Living the Legend
by littlewarrior911
Summary: Katie has completed 1.5 years of training with Oriel, Lady Tsnuade, and the Mizukage. Her travels take her away to Suna, the only country still without a Kazekage. Can Katie battle her emotions and rescue the world at the same time? Its gonna get epic!
1. Chapter 1

**Lw: Whats up world! IT'S A NEW STORY! WAHOOO!**

**Katie: I KNOW! IM SO EXCITED! **

**Lw: ME TOO! But I'm also not dead! Just so ya'll know! Iv just felt like crap these past couple of days. Iv been fighting this bug off and its just been kickin me in butts cheeks…. -_-' And not to mention I got PINKEYE! : like, wtf ? What kind of cruel punishment is that? :'( **

**Katie: Man…. You have it rough :|**

**Lw: Damn right… but, anyways…. All this extra time has been giving me time to plot things out. So hopefully everyone enjoys it ^_^ Also, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ **_**THE TRAVELER**_** YOU SHOULD STOP READING THIS NOW AND GO READ THAT. That would help in you not being confused. Ahem.**

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><p><em><strong>Living the Legend!<strong>_

Chapter 1: Drunkards and Gingers

The sun was painting the sky beautiful shades of reds, oranges, and yellows as it set over the sandy horizon. Ever since I got sucked into this world that's one thing I always loved, watching the sunset. It reminded me of home because it always looked the same no matter where you went.

I look a deep breath to enjoy the moment and sighed loudly. Reaching into my cloak pocket I pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Looking at the fine script on the page I started to re-read the note Sozi had given me before we spilt ways.

_Katie,_

_Because I know you're going to forget what I'm about to tell you, I decided to write it down for your convenience._

_First off, I want you to travel to Suna in the Land of Wind. I know they still don't have a Kazekage picked out yet, but I want you to go regardless. When you travel through the desert make __**sure**__ you have plenty of water and a compass. Kami knows you'll need all that water when you get lost. The compass will help when you lose your way in a sand storm, so just remember to head westward. Also, make sure you wear a cloak. I want you to travel primarily at night when it's much cooler and the winds are low, but you'll need it when you travel during the day. _

_Once you make it into the city, go to the market place and find a fruit stand called "The Garden". Ask for a woman named Pema. Say you're with me and she'll understand. You'll be staying with her until I get back. _

_You're free to roam around and explore, but for Kamis sake, stay out of trouble. I don't want to have to save you from an army of bandits again…_

_Sozi_

I rolled my eyes at her last words. I didn't get into _that_ much trouble last time. A thief thought it would be funny to try and pickpocket me, so I just kicked his butt. No big deal. But how was I supposed to know he had a crap-ton of super big buff friends ready to chase me down? Not moi. Lesson learned.

I looked back at the note again going over her checklist. Cloak? I tossed up my hood and pulled the garment closer to my body. Check. Water? I fiddled with the 2 large canteens tied to my waist. Check. Compass? In my leg pocket I pulled out a small little compass. Check. I was all set to go!

Grabbing my board from behind my back I watched it hover a foot off the ground. After watching some of the locals surf back in the Land of Waves I wanted to join them. Heck, I've always wanted to learn how to surf! Especially when I was back home so I could pick up some hotties, but I never lived along the coast so I couldn't. When I asked them to teach me they kindly agreed and I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty hard at first. I got well acquainted with the ocean whenever I wiped out, but I got the hang of it eventually. Not only is it fun, but I also figured out a way to "surf" across land. By pumping chakra down into my feet and into a something a little larger than a long board, I created a land-board! It's a fast, convenient way to travel across rugged terrain.

Did I mention it's fast? And fun?

But mostly fast?

Stepping onto my board I took off from the diminishing tree line behind me and into the steep dry dunes that could only belong to a desert. I couldn't stop the smile that made its ways across my face at the thoughts of finally seeing a certain redhead.

_Are you familiar with this young lad?_ Oriel had read my thoughts and her angelic voice danced in my head.

"No, but I'd like to be." My smile grew. I was excited to see him. It's been nearly a year an a half since him and Naruto fought after the chunin exams. I wonder how the village treats him now?

_Interesting…_ I could practically feel Oriels eyebrows raise up and down suggestively and chuckle. I rolled my eyes.

"Suna here I come." My smile stayed on my lips as I rode up the tip of a sand dune. I pumped more chakra into my board picking up even more speed sliding down the sand. I was but a blur in the night with the moon to guide me.

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><p>Okay, soooo… It would have totally taken me a day and a half, maybe two at most, to cross the desert. But no. I had to get stupid lost in the middle of nowhere for a whole day. A whole frickin day! It was all because a mini sandstorm made me find shelter and wait it out. Unfortunately, when I came out from my hiding spot to head west with my mighty compass I discovered something horrible.<p>

I had somehow managed to lose my compass in the storm. Or the night before, I don't really remember... But I looked everywhere, and I mean everywhere for the little bugger! I looked until my skin was steaming, and that's when I decided to screw it and sulk by a cactus in its shade cause I was sweating balls.

I was lost. In a desert of all places! To top it off, I was _lost_ in a _dese_rt with hardly any _water_ left. I was gonna die, I just knew it. Sozi would never find me, no one would come looking for me, and I'd die a shriveled resin. I was starting to panic inside. I could _die_ out here for Kamis sake! And _no one would know_!

After yelling at the sand, a cactus, and a desert lizard I turned my aggression towards the sun and shouted at it for all its cruel punishments. That's when I smacked myself in the face cause I realized that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. I was so pissed! I had wasted all that time being hot and pissy drinking all my water when I could have just looked towards the stupid sun so it could help me and not bake me. I swear, the sun fried a few brain cells... But that doesn't matter. What matters is that my whole attitude changed and I was all merry cause I wasn't going to die, but I had depleted nearly all my water and I'm just so flipping hot, even with a cloak. And I was thirsty… oh so thirsty….

So it's taken me, what, 3 days to get here? Man, I'm directionally challenged…. and sweaty… and stinky….

Once the sun had set I was a much happier because it was like, 20 bazillion degrees cooler. That's when I arrived in Suna. I rode through the small passageway through the massive rock wall. The guards were nice enough and let me by without to much trouble so I put my board away and roamed the dimly lit streets in search of an open store.

But I wast just searching for just any store my friends. I wanted a store with _water_.

My mouth tried to water at the thought of drinking something cold and refreshing, but I couldn't even manage to moisten my mouth it was that dry. My tongue felt like hot sand paper and my lips were chapped and stuck together. The constant barrage of sand flying in my face didn't help my trip much either. I had sand in places I didnt want it to be. Ugh. I just want some water and a nice cold shower! Ohh… shower…..

Along the fairly empty streets I passed a few bars. I watched people cheer and drink merely inside, knocking cups together, gossiping, and playing their bar games. How anyone could be happy here was crazy. Even with the temperature difference at night, I was still hot. Maybe I should lose the cloak? Nah, I just needed to adjust to desert temperature. I was so used to the nice breezy weather of the ocean.

I sighed. All I needed right now was a little personal fan for my face. Even now I can still feel the sweat dripping down my neck. Yuck!

Walking a little deeper into the city, I saw another bar just up ahead and I decided to stop in and get a drink. Screw walking and screw this hot weather. I was hella thirsty and I need a nice, cold, ice filled cup of water. Mmm… water… I was heading over to the bar when I saw 2 young boys roughly thrown out onto the ground. As the boys tried picking themselves up 3 other strong looking men guarded the door.

"Don't you two even _think_ about coming back!" one man pointed and yelled.

"Aweee suur! That's no way to be treatin' twwo loyal customers!" A boy with short dirty blond hair spoke from the ground. He was pretty attractive when he tried to smile at the angry men, even if he was tipsy and slurring his words.

"We don't need 'loyal' costumers who think it's funny to start harassing other costumers." Another man folded his arms.

"Are…are you sayin we're rowdy?" The other boy on the ground, who had a black cap on with pointy tips on the sides, managed to pick himself up and roll up his sleeves.

"That's exactly what I'm sayin." The bar men coaxed.

"Why I outta!" The boy clad in black with the cat hat took a step towards the men but stopped. I had a hand on his shoulder.

"I think they've had enough to drink don't you, sir?" I looked between drunk boy and guards. "Let me take em' off your hands, huh?" I slid off my hood so everyone could see my innocent smile. Guys always fell for the puppy dog eyes and the innocent smile. This time, it worked like a charm.

"Get these ruffians out of my sight." The middle guy scoffed.

I nodded and tugged on cat mans shoulder again. "Oh, of course." But apparently cat man had none of it.

"Wwo do you think yuu are? Don you know who eeye am?" Cat man yelled and turned around very clumsily almost tipping over himself, until I grabbed his shoulder again. His blonde friend was pointing and laughing at him from the ground.

"Get off me! I don need any help!" he tried to shove off my hand, but I pulled away gently and he tripped over his feet falling over in a heap on top of his friend. Blondie was still laughing is ass off even with his comrade over him. Cat man had managed to land his face by blonde's crotch and he wouldn't stop laughing shaking them both hysterically. Cat mans face looked utterly uncomfortable and redder then a tomato. I couldn't stop laughing it was so hilarious!

"Kenji! Get your ass off of me!" Cat man yelled and started flailing at his friend in an attempt to get up.

"Kankuro! Your fat ass is on _me_!"

"My ass is _not_ fat!"

"Yes it is! I can see it! It's huge!" I continued to laugh at there bickering but I tired covering it up with my hand.

Kankuro somehow managed to detangle himself and rolled on his back. "You'er just jealous cause I get the girls with this ass." He pointed to it with emphasis.

The boy called Kenji started to laugh even harder wiping a tear away from his eye. "HAHA! You think your ass gets you girls? Your retarded man! They just grab what they can get!"

"Like my ass!" I laughed again even harder. These two were just like brothers fighting!

Their bickering only escaladed later into the night. The men who were at the bar door were long gone. Now that there problem was taken care of, or rather handed off, I was left here to listen and laugh at these girls while they bickered about who was manlier, who was the best kisser, who was sexier, and who was just all around awesomer. This was all decided in the street when Kenji made the better sandcastle cause his had a little red flag, making him victorious.

I silently wondered how I got myself into this position babysitting two drunkards. And one was Gaaras brother no less… All I wanted was some water and I get myself tangled into a web of late night mansitting. As long as they didn't puke on me, I was okay. And on the plus side, these guys were hilarious and provided good entertainment! They were sort of a good welcoming committee for me. Hopefully they'll remember me when they're sober….

With both the boys distracted once again over more nonsensical boy stuff, I had already slung them around my shoulders, Kankuro on one arm Kenji on the other, walking down the streets when they finally noticed they were moving and not sitting in the sand discussing swamps, biscuits, painted nails, and the black night.

"Hey.. hey Kankuro?"

"What's up man?"

"How…how'd we get this girl?" Kenji furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

Kankuro looked at me, then at Kenji, and then back to me. "Dude, I don't know…" there was a pause and then, "Are you sure she's a girl?"

"Excuse me?" I blurted shocked it wasn't obvious. I mean, sure I was wearing a cloak, but I was here the whole night and I had talked to them a few times! I didn't think I looked _that_ manly….

"I think so… I mean… I see boobs…." I saw the boys look at my boobs. Great…

"Those could be fake man…" Kankuro eyed them suspiciously. Really? I would never get a boob job! THESE ARE NOT FAKE.

Both boys looked at each, to my chest, and then back at each other. Oh god….

"There's only one way to find out man…." Kenji spoke lifting his hand dangerously close to my chest.

I stopped moving jerking the boys with my halt. "Okay, for one I'm a girl. And two, you boys didn't "get me", I found you. And three, yes my boobs are real! And no one touches." I eyed Kankuro and Kenji carefully. They seemed to get the message.

"She's feisty. I like her." Kenji nodded approvingly.

"Hey… hey… what's your name?" Kankuro spoke to me.

"Ginger." I rolled my eyes at the boys. They were walking with a stranger all night that could have been leading them to there deaths and they decided _now _of all times to ask for my name? Drunkards. Pure Drunkards. Or maybe they were just stupid?

The boys gave me a funny look. "Ginger..? What… what kinda name is that?"

"It means you both don't have souls…" I smirked. Oh, how I loved messing with people.

Kankuro looked shocked. "KENJI! I KNEW YOU WERE SOULLESS!"

"Na-uh man! You're a heartless bastard!" Kenji countered. I quickly shut them up before it got any louder and more aggressive. The last thing we needed was unwanted attention from other strangers at night.

"Actually, my name is Katie." I smiled at both the boys and they smiled back forgetting there previous argument. God, they were so drunk. Or still just stupid….

"So… are you like… taking us back to your house… to play?" Kenji spoke again with curiosity holding me tighter to his side.

"Kenji you're so stupid! She obviously wants to play with _me_!" Kankuro then pulled me towards him more.

"You're not hoggin her all to yourself Kankuro! She clearly likes me more!" Kenji roughly shoved me closer to his side. I was in a manwich!

"Wow! Wow! Wow!" I sweat dropped a little. "How about we just calm down and Kankuro tells me where he lives so we can _all_ settle down and play, okay?"

The boys seemed happy with that plan so we took off towards his house, wherever he lived now days. He was giving me some strange directions, go left, then right, down that street, up that wall. Yeah I was confused. I just wanted to drop these goof balls off and get some water. In all this messy distraction I forgotten about how thirsty I was. After more jokes, some stumbles, a trash can visit, and a few up-chucks later we were coming up to Kankuros door. Which happened to be in the center village, and the biggest house in the whole city. Not that the big kanji lettering gave it away, but that ment the Sabaku family was living in the Kazekage mansion. Just as I rang the doorbell to the frickin huge ass mansion Kankuro started freaking out.

"Guys! Temari can't see me!" Kankuro was looking around frantically and sweating profusely. Not much different then usual.

I raised and eyebrow. "Why?"

"She'll kill me!" He kept quivering in fear. Something I didn't think I'd ever see.

"Na man! She'll kill me first! I took you out!" Kenji started freaking out with Kankuro. They were acting like a bunch of girls! I'm sure Temari wasn't all that mean. "You guys are just overreacting. I'm sure she wont be mad." I tried calming them down but they kept freaking out and panicking. Kankuro was holding Kenji and Kenji was holding Kankuro. It wasn't an embrace, but a manbrace.

"Dude were gonna die!"

"It was nice knowing you, man!"

I rang the bell again and I heard footsteps inside. "It's okay!" I tried again but nothing was working. I thought I saw tears in Kanji's eyes.

The door handle turned from the inside.

Kankuro and Kanji's eyes got to the size of saucers and hugged each other even closer. "NO! KATIE!" Kankuro and Kenji hid behind my back cowering in fear.

When the door opened I was greeted by a very distraught looking Temari clad in her pjs. Her hair was still in the trademark 4 ponies, but they looked even more spiky and messy then usual. Heavy bags where under her eyes and she was grumbling about doorbells at 3 am and maids becoming lazy. To say she looked happy would have been an understatement…

"Who…the heck… are you?" Her eyelids where half closed like we had just woken her up from some much-needed beauty sleep. Her eyes were sharp and piercing sizing me up and down. I suddenly realized why the boys were so afraid of Temari. She was scary!

"Uh…" Holy crap I was speechless. Temari was intimidating and I was ready to pee my pants I was so nervous. I didn't think she would be that…that…

"Well?" Her eyes narrowed even more.

"Erm… have you lost these?" I turned enough so she could see Kankuro and Kenji peeking out from behind my back.

"And where the heck have you two been?" Her eyes were just as icy towards the boys. "Fondling with a young girl in the late hours? Drinking yourself silly? Having the _balls_ to wake me up at 3 am?" There was a dramatic pause. I think she expected some sort of answer out of the boys but they kept their mouths shut. Her hands flew into the air and everyone flinched. "I outta beat you both senseless!"

"Temari! Sshhhuuuussshhhhh!" Kankuro held a finger to his lips. "Your so loud!"

"Oh, I'll show you loud!" A swift punch was aimed for Kankuros face. Kankuro, to drunk to dodge, was cleanly knocked out, a silly grin on his face. Temari grabbed him by his ankle and dragged him inside. She shot a glare over her shoulder at Kenji. "You gonna stand there all night or what?"

Kenji was recovering from his laugh attack he had when Temari K.O.'Ed Kankuro. "Don't have to tell me twice!" He quickly scampered inside, giving me one last wink. "See ya later Katie!"

Standing dumbly in the doorway, Temari gave me another look. "Thanks for taking care of these retards." And slammed the door in my face. What a great first impression.

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><p><strong>Lw: HAHAHA! Oh drunk Kankuro and drunk Kenji… you two… ;D<strong>

**Katie: They… are ….. HILARIOUS! xD**

**Lw: Just wait till you see them later. ;) But what did you guys think? REVIEW MY LOVELIES! :D **


	2. Chapter 2 The Blunt and the Romantic

**Lw: Hiya everyone!:) hope you all liked the first chapter ^_^ I know I did! **

**Katie: I just wanna know when I can meet Gaara…**

**Lw: In due time my pumpkin, in due time.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: <strong>

**The Blunt and the Romantic**

So, I've been in Suna for about four days now waiting for Sozi to get back from her trip. I still don't know where she went, but she should be back any day now.

To pass some of the time I've been watching this Pema woman work in her merchant stand and sometimes played with the local villagers around the city. Sometimes if Pema would let me, I'd help her out around her stand running errands for her and taking care of costumers.

And other times she lets me leave so I can explore the city. That's what I found myself doing the most, exploring.

But lets get back to this lady. Pema.

Pema Pema Pema. This is lady that knows Sozi and, as of now, is my unofficial guardian. What's there to say about her? Well, she's literally _the_ nicest person in all of Suna, and I don't just say that about anyone. Everyone knows this woman and I mean_ everyone_. I had absolutely no problem finding her stand when I first arrived because people where more than happy to point me in the right direction.I've watched this lady selling her fruit and she's on a first name basis with basically everyone that comes to her very small, very popular fruit stand, even chit chatting with costumers for a good 10 minutes.

On top of that Pema is a very pregnant woman. Not that that's the most defining feature of hers, it's just a fact. Her white skirt and teal top complimented her pregnancy very well, along with the addition of her stylish green sash wrapping over her right shoulder and again around her waist. Her hair is a silky light brown color that changes to mahogany under the light. Even though her eyes are a dark coal color, they still held this sense of true happiness, like she's really joyful all the time inside.

Which she is! But that's what surprised me most when I met the woman. She was incredibly kind. _Too_ kind.

I don't know if you've ever been so Suna before, but they aren't exactly the most welcoming people in the world. Sure a few people are grumpy and you see the occasional antisocial citizen, but there were also your kind folk who talked and gossiped about god knows what. The only problem is that you had to be in their 'circle' of people to be talked to.

Pema, on the other hand, was quite the opposite of everyone. She greeted you enthusiastically regardless of what others thought. You didn't have to be anyone special, she'd show you kindness and respect. And that's what I loved about Pema, she welcomed me with open arms.

Another thing I loved about Suna were the kids. One day, after I was done running some errands for Pema I went out around the city to explore and came across a park where some little kids were playing ball. On a spur of the moment feeling, I asked if I could join in on the game, even though I was like double there age... But they all happily agreed! They were all very welcoming and we played for a few hours until they got tired and they left to go home and eat dinner. These two little kids, Yukio and Miko are my favorite out of all of them. Yukio is a feisty young brown haired boy who is good at everything he does while Miko, a little blue haired girl with large pigtails, has the biggest crush on Yukio. She was always running next to me asking me how to impress the boy because I was on his team because I was a big kid. It was priceless.

I hadn't seen Temari, Kankuro or Gaara yet, which makes me sad. It's been 3 days since the night I escorted Kankuro and his friend home and I keep wanting, well hoping really, to run into either of the two boys but luck isn't on my side. Maybe today was going to be different though?

I was exploring the rest of the marketplace, which is quiet large mind you, just so I had a general idea of where all the stores were. Suna was actually a large complex city with tall winding clay buildings and elaborate streets lined with a variety of stands, shops, restaurants, and government buildings all surrounding the massive sphere that is the Kazekage tower. Power lines and other decorated strings run across the housetops, and the windows are rounded lining in rows along a floor of a building. This place was certainly acclimated to its harsh climate. I'm sure the clay or sandstone provides a cooler interior and shelter from this harsh sun.

And don't get me wrong, I like sun as much as the next guy, but I feel like I need to put buckets of sunscreen on just to avoid sunburn. Or sweat rivers just to keep cool. Gah, it's so nasty especially when the wind blows sand on your sticky skin and then you become so sweaty and uncomfortable. Bleh..

Passing by all the stores I started looking at all weapons shops. All the variety of combat weapons… oooo….. I wish I could use one like the other ninjas. Especially Tenten, god she is a beast with all her weapons. Put something in her hand and BAM it's mastered. I wish I could use a sword like a master… or maybe some spear…or brass knuckles. Okay, maybe not brass knuckles but at least a nun chuck! Lee can use a nun chuck for peets sake!

Window-shopping only makes me feel inferior…. What the heck man…. Ill just go get a smoothie to make me all happy inside. Oh yeah, a smoothie. Mmmm… nom nom nom…..

I quickly stopped my window-shopping and headed to the nearest café and walked right up to the counter.

"What can I get for ya?" A male employee asked.

"Do you have any smoothies?" I couldn't seem to find them on their menu.

"We have water, tea, Iwa coffee, iced cactus juice, and sake."

Huh, I guess in a desert it's hard to make something cold… which makes sense. "Ill take the iced cactus juice please." I smiled at the man handing him some money. He quickly took my change and made my drink. He handed me a small half sliced cactus in the shape of a bowl with a sippy straw and red juice inside that smelled like raspberries.

"Enjoy!" The man smiled back at me. I thanked the man and gratefully took the juice and sat at a two-person table inside the café. I started watching the people walk by on the street outside. The air conditioning wasn't on but the shade was still nice. It felt good to give my already tanning skin a nice break. While I was taking my second sip of the delicious red concoction, two strange girls walked up to my table.

"Hey." A girl with long spiky black hair tied into a pony on top of her head stood next to my chair. Messy spiked bangs fell across her face framing her gorgeous ice blue eyes. I blinked in confusion. I had never seen this girl in my life before, let alone in the anime.

"What's your name, huh? You're not from around here." She finished resting her hand on the back of my chair. I looked back at this girl in front of me still confused and slightly shocked. Not only was she stunningly beautiful in her casual ensemble but she was blunter then a clobbering stick...

I looked side to side. Was she really talking to me? "Uhh… I'm Katie."

I completely forgot about the second girl until she took the empty seat across from me. "Sorry about my friend, she can be very…"

"Attractive?"

"Blunt." The girl in the chair smiled kindly to me but elbowed the black haired girl in the side for her comment. The second girl was equally as nice looking as the first. I cautiously held my cactus juice in my hands lips still by my sippy straw. What was going on?

"Anyways! I'm Yumi Abe, and that's Mai Kimura." Yumi said evenly. This girl had light golden orange locks falling past her shoulders and well into her back with bangs sliding across her forehead neatly, like they were painted specifically for her forehead.

"I can introduce myself ya know!" Mai grabbed a chair from another table and swung it around sitting in it backwards, joining our table. "I'm Mai. Nice to meet ya." She nodded at me smirking giving me a two finger salute.

I looked between the two girls too embarrassed to talk. Both of them had nice stylish clothes that fit the climate perfectly, yet still looked attractive. I wasn't just shocked about their appearance; it's just not many people came up to a random stranger and introduced themselves to you. In all my life this hasn't really happened to me before. I was usually the one who came up to people, not the other way around!

Especially when I looked so plain and average compared to them... It only made things more awkward for me... Stupid self consciousness...

"Nice to meet you both." I smiled despite my inner turmoil. Meh, I might as well just go with it. I wanna make some new friends so might as well start now!

"Yeah, yeah," Mai waved her hand at me dismissively. "Now you're new right? I haven't seen you round before." Mai turned and gave me her full attention.

I found myself blushing. God there was no room for chit chat with this Mai girl, she got straight to the point. "Am I that obvious?" I smiled a little nervously.

"Awe she's a shy one!" Yumi squealed and clasped her hands together and Mai just rolled her eyes. "No, we're just observant. We saw you the other day and couldn't help but notice how lost you looked. We decided you must be new and thought you might need a welcoming committee."

"I looked lost?" What was I doing yesterday? Did I look lost? Well shit, I didn't think I looked _that_ lost…

"Not really, just curious." Yumi smiled. "But we wanted to be your first friends!"

"My friends?" I think my shocked expression said enough.

"Yumi here likes new friends." Mai pointed her thumb and rolled her eyes. "Anyways, you better hurry up and finish that up, we've got places to be! Things to see!" Mai and Yumi got up simultaneously.

"Common Katie! You're new and we have to give you a tour!" Yumi grabbed my arm and hugged it close to hers. I almost spilled my drink, she was so fast and her grip was like iron!

I barely had time to finish my juice before I was whisked away down a variety of new and unfamiliar streets. Walking down these streets, Mai and Yumi gave me the 'load down', talking about themselves and other places and people around town. My first impression of Mai was spot on. She was clearly the blunt outspoken, 'I don't give a crap what you think about me I'm doing it anyway' type of person while Yumi here was the always-happy, polite, hopelessly romantic type. They were like polar opposites yet they agreed on nearly everything. Between the two of them I was given a very in-depth tour of the village in less then three hours. Both of them talked a mile a minute, talking about the city and where the best place to get shoes or a nice lunch. They told me what people not to talk to, who not to disturb, what streets to avoid at night and what girls to watch out for. Apparently they had some pretty bitchy girls here.

"Watch out for Amaya Inoue." Mai nodded saying her name. "She's a witch. We were good friends once upon a time. Then she got boobs before the rest of us and left us to go be slutty around ninja academy boys."

"Really?" So girls can slutty and evil even across worlds. That's kinda funny!

"Yeah… it was such a shame…." Yumi sighed and kept walking reminiscing on the past.

"Not really, she was still kinda a bitch back then too." I chuckled at Mais words.

"Oh Mai, your so mean sometimes!"

Mai shrugged. "Eh, it's the truth."

"Is there any reason why you two aren't ninjas?" I asked randomly.

Mai shrugged. "Eh, as much as I like a good fight, I just don't want to get involved. After watching my dad deal with all that crap I just decided not to get into it."

"What do you mean?" I was slightly confused by what she ment.

"Mai's dad is the President of AQ Corp. His company controls and regulates almost all of Sunas water. They make sure everyone has enough water, pipes are working, and even send it out to other small neighboring villages." Yumi explained.

Mai shook her head. "My dad would have a fit if I become a ninja. He says they always try to steel and kill people. Says that's not where I belong." She shoved her hands in her pockets shrugging a little.

I could understand that. I could see other ninja wanting to go after their water, especially if it was the only stable water supply around for miles. So they'd naturally have a bad experience with them. That also explains why Mai looks nice, her family must make a lot of money.

"What about you Yumi? What does your family do?"

"My dad is the Kazekages scribe." Yumi smiled. "Sometimes, I get lucky and go visit him while he's working. Some of the faculty members in the manson are really nice letting me explore the office building. If I'm lucky I can run small errands for them too."

I vaguely thought of the Kazekage building for a moment. I remember seeing a balcony atop the spherical building looking out over the village, but I had never really seen the interior of it in the anime. I wonder what its like on the inside. "Do you get to see your father a lot when he's working?"

"Only sometimes. When he works late, I come over and deliver him dinner." Yumi looked at the ground a sad smile on her face. "It's hard sometimes, not seeing him as often as I'd like. I like to think my father and I are close, so I miss him dearly when he's gone for a long time. My mother is always down my throat about looking nice and representing my father properly. I can't tarnish our 'high reputation'."

I nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry, that's a lot to carry around on your shoulders Yumi." I put a hand on her shoulder offering a smile.

"Eh! That's what I'm here for! To lighten her up and get her into trouble!" Mai cut in between Yumi and I pulling her arms around us both, locking us in a playful headlock. We all started laughing again and joked around in the street.

"Is that who I think it is?"

All three of us whipped around at the voice that broke our playfulness. Before I could even determine who spoke Mai squealed in delight. "Kenji!" Sprinting over to the boy with all to familiar short, spiky, dirty blonde hair. Mai glomped Kenji nearly tackling him to the ground.

"It's nice to see you too!" Kenji wrapped his arms around Mai and she did the same. Their embrace was cut short when he snuck a peek at Yumi and I.

"Hey! It's you!" Kenji let go of Mai letting her drop and pointed a finger at me. "You're the girl from that one night! Ginger!"

The girls looked confused. Mai was picking herself up off the ground, "What about Katie?"

I rubbed a hand behind my head. "Yeah, that's me." I felt like sweat dropping, there facial expressions were priceless. Yumi was curious, Mai was confused, and Kenji looked excited for some reason.

"What happened that one night? Why ginger?" Mai asked again side glaring at Kenji. She looked slightly jealous and accusing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they have a thing going on. Ill have to ask Yumi about that later.

"Oh its nothing too special…" Kenji rolled his eyes playfully avoiding Mai's stares.

"Him and a friend were thrown out of a bar. They were about to fight some other guys from the bar when I stepped in and took them home." I explained.

"With Kankuro drinking yourself stupid again I bet?" Mai shook her head hands on her hips. "Your just lucky Katie here saved your butts. You'd have gotten yourself into some real trouble again if she didn't help you."

"How'd you know it was Kankuro?" I asked surprised.

"Oh, Kenji and Kankuro are best of friends. Even though Kenji isn't a ninja, they've been inseparable ever since they were little." Yumi smiled politely.

"That basically explains the whole night then." I rolled my eyes at the thought. All the sandcastles, puking, and catcalls. That was an interesting night indeed. Kenji only laughed at my comment.

"Hey! It was a fun night! Minus seeing Temaris sun-shinny face…"

"What happened after I dropped you guys off? Obviously you survived Temaris wrath." I smirked at the possible torment they could have gone through. Temaris anger is one thing you didn't want to be apart of.

Kenji shivered. "You don't wanna know."

"Those Sabakus, I tell ya." Mai shook her head.

"What about them?" That an odd thing to say.

"They're some ninjas." Mai nodded at her words. "Especially Temari. She's got a temper if I've ever seen one."

"That redhead is still the best damn ninja in the whole village, too." Kenji added.

That sparked my interest. "What redhead?"

"His name is Gaara, or among other ninjas Gaara of the desert. He's infamous around the village." Yumi explained.

"Infamous for what?"

This time Kenji started talking. "The kids got a messed up past. Used to be the village monster around here, a scary legend to keep kids inside at night."

"I've heard he's different now." Mai questioned.

"Yeah he's changed a little. He doesn't have the crazed animalistic look in his eyes anymore; he's just silent now. Very observant." Kenji nodded at his own words.

"Interesting." I smirked flexing my eyebrows a little bit. "Sounds sexy."

"Oh you have no idea!" Yumi clasped her hands together and got stars in her eyes. "He's like a perfect romantic story. A horrible shrouded past filled with bloodshed, only to change for the better and find love! Not to mention he's incredibly handsome with all his sexy ninja muscles…"

I laughed at Yumi and all her dreamy facial expressions. "That sexy huh? I can't wait to meet him."

Yumi quickly grabbed my shoulders and shook me slightly. "You don't just _meet_ him! You _experience_ him!"

"Experience him?" I chuckled at the thought of 'Experiencing' Gaara. What a strange thought.

"She has a point, my dear friend." Mai wrapped her arms around Yumi and I again. "You don't just meet Gaara, he meets you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll understand one day girly." Kenji smirked. Like that helped me at all!

* * *

><p>Our little group eventually continued walking around the village. Our adventures took us back down the marketplace and to a nice little inn to have some dinner. While we all ate our food, the conversation never died. I felt very welcomed by the few people I've met, even if I was still quiet and timid around them. Later in the night Yumi confirmed my suspicions when I asked her about Mai and Kenji. The two did sorta have a thing, but nothing was official even though there was some <em>obvious<em> flirting going on between the two. I told Yumi they should just cut the small stuff and just date already and that's exactly what she said! We both shared a laugh at the two love birds when they asked us what was so funny. I almost felt like I was back home with my old friends.

Almost.

Something must have changed in my eyes while I thought about my friends. My group must noticed the change in my mood too because they became quiet.

"Everything okay, newbie?" Mai looked at me with a curious expression.

"Yeah, just a little home sick is all." I sighed. "I think I better get back to Pema, she's probly wondering where I am by now." I got up from my seat ready to leave.

"Hey, Katie what are you doing tomorrow?" Yumi had slipped a hand on my wrist holding me back. "If you'd like, we can meet up again and hang out."

"Sure, I'd love too." I nodded to Yumi and she smiled back at me, happiness written all over her face. "Great! We'll see you at the same café you were at earlier today and meet up around noon, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan." I smiled and waved goodbye to my new friends and their bright smiles. Walking out the door my smile was replaced with a solemn expression. Friends… I had only met Mai and Yumi today and yet they treated me like I had been there friend for forever. My feet kept walking mechanically, already honed to Pemas house while I pictured my old home in america… with all my old friends...

I could see them all lined up smiling and laughing at me like we all just heard something hilarious. I pictured my friend Kayla, her hand up ready for one of our hand hugs we give each other often, or Mike's awkward stance ready to say something funny and sexual, and Kyles hands up like bear claws ready to cheer me up, Claires face shaking at me smirking like I just did something adorably stupid. I could see all the rest of my friends and all their faces. I could feel a deep, sinking sensation in my chest. Thinking of my friends… my home…. My hand drifted up over my chest where my heart clenched. My eyes started to water… I still miss them all so much.

Thinking of my old home made me wonder how my other new friends were doing. Along my travels I had met a few travelers who were very interesting. Back in the Land of Waves I had also made quite a few new friends, and I especially missed the ones in Konoha! I wonder how everyone was doing back there...

* * *

><p>When I turned onto the last street to get home, I saw two Sand ninja standing outside Pema's door talking to her. As I got closer, Pema's eyes flickered to me and she smiled. "Oh there you are! I was beginning to wonder when you'd be home." Pema gestured to the two Sand ninja. "These men were looking for you."<p>

I looked towards the two official looking ninja questionably. What did they want? I didn't do anything wrong, at least not that I knew of. "How can I help you?" I stood next to Pema in the doorway protectively, just in case. One ninja nodded and stepped forward.

"We were sent here to give you a message. You are requested to come to the Kazekage tower and attend a meeting with the council. We are here to be your escorts." The ninja bowed after he finished.

I could feel my face pale when Pema looked surprised and then eyed me. "A meting with the council? This late at night? That sounds important." The she just shrugged smiling. "I have a feeling Sozi has something to do with this, since you have been nothing but an angel to me." I could only hope it was Sozi's doing., otherwise I'm screwed. Pema put a hand on my shoulder in a reassuring manner. "Just stay safe, okay?"

I smile at Pema. Oh how I just loved this woman. "Thanks, I will." I resisted the urge to call her mom, and have her a quick hug then followed the two Sand ninja away down the darkening streets towards the center of the village.

* * *

><p><strong>Lw: Mwahahaha! A meeting with the High Council? What could possibly happen?<strong>

**Katie: I hate meetings. I hate old people. I hate talking in front of important people. I hate this all!**

**Lw: That is a dirty lie and you know it! **

**Kaite: Maybe a little…. **


	3. Chapter 3: Rough Around the Edges

**Lw: Hmm… I'm at a loss for words. **

**Katie: That's unusual. **

**Lw: I know. Anyways, here's the next chappie ^_^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Rough Around the Edges<strong>

There are only a few things I really hate doing in life.

Near the top of that list is public speaking.

No one even likes public speaking! It's just…..the worst... Yuck.

You get my point. However, repeating myself is numero uno on this list of mine. Not that I'm arrogant about it or anything, I just really hate repeating myself.

Why? Simply because I get red and mousey and sweaty when I repeat myself for the second time. It's a curse I think.

And worst of all, I was stuck here, needing to repeat myself in front of Sunas mighty, highly esteemed council members. To add to my list of troubles, standing a little off to the side of the council table was none other then the wonder squad. Who is on the wonder squad you ask? Why the drunkard, the sassy, and the quiet of course. Yupp. That's right. I called them that.

And yes, that's Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara. I think it fits them perfectly. But as to why they were still here was a mystery to me.

"Could you please-"

I was drawn back from my thoughts and quickly cut the old man off. Clearly everyone in the room was lost. "Ill start from the beginning." I shook my head at the thought. All over again… Stupid old men and their old ways all judging me like they know everything. Getting up from my seat I let out a big sigh. Why oh why couldn't I be somewhere else? Where was Sozi? She should have been back by now! I didn't want to be doing this by myself. ARG!

Looking back around the table, old calculating eyes watched my every move. Cue the tomato face. My cheeks were burning red and the room suddenly felt ten degrees hotter. Oh god, now I'm gonna be all sweaty. "Like I said before, I'm originally from another world and I was sucked here by your legendary lost spirit Oriel."

Some of the people started whispering again like they had the first time. "_That old child's tail?" "Is it really true?" "Unbelievable. She's obviously toying with us." "How can we be sure she's not lying?"_

How rude. I was still here! I could still hear everything they were saying! Questioning my very existence like I'm not here explaining it for them a _second_ time!

Despite the questionable whispers, I tried not to quiver from my nerves so I found myself biting my lower lip in anticipation. What? I could take insults like a pro, I just hated intimidating stares and speeches…. "I have been traveling through your world trying to hone my skills as a ninja to protect this world from danger. I come here baring no ill will, just a chance to train with some of your shinobi and in return I offer my abilities as an aid for your country until I depart." Yeah, that basically summarizes it all more or less.

Still, I got a variety of looks, all ranging from disbelief to traitorous dishonor. Why the stanky eye? What did I do? Why would I lie? The old farts…

One council member spoke over the whispers silencing the room. "How can we be certain you truly have this spirit? Is there some way you can prove to us that you are not lying?" The old man folded his fingers across his mouth giving me a hard glare.

"Uh…" I thought about it for a second. "Actually, yeah there is." Without even thinking I locked eyes with the wonder squad for the first time that evening. Kankuro looked bored, Temari looked skeptical, and Gaara looked neutral. There looks were sure reassuring… NOT! What if this didn't work? What if I just failed? What if they don't believe me? What if I make a fool of myself?

I should really stop second guessing myself…

I closed my eyes and folded my hands in the proper hand sign near my lips feeling chakra run to my fingers. God, this better work. "Release." I whispered.

Moving my hands outward towards the table I let the white chakra roll down my arms and off my palms in rippled waves, slowly forming a set of shoulders, neck, jaw line, and face. With Oriels chakra being released the whole room felt lighter almost, even calm. All the previous tension, frustration, and confusion disappeared. Finally, there in the center of the council's table illuminating the meeting was the face of a legend. Literally.

Glowing white from the shoulders up and pulsing light chakra like a fog machine was the upper half of Oriel. "Greetings esteemed members of the council." Oriel let a breathtaking smile grace her lips. I watched Oriel blink her eyes seductively and everyone's jaw dropped, a gaping look plastered on their face. My amusement only continued when I saw even the wonder squad looking shocked and impressed.

"I am Oriel, spirit guardian of your world. Is there something that needs my assistance?" Oriels words were like a beautiful symphony I could listen to over and over again. I loved listening to her speak; it was like an eargasim basically. Apparently I wasn't the only one entranced by her presence or vocals because the council was still speechless.

"Is it true-" "I-it can't be…" "That… that chakra!" "No doubt about it." "Amazing…"

Oriel flashed an elegant smile. "I've listened to Katie talk to you all and I can assure you everything she speaks is the truth." As she spoke she locked eyes with every council member before continuing. "I know this all may seem a bit overwhelming, but you must listen." Suddenly it felt like the whole world got serious. Oriels tone changed enough that the light disbelieving and awe filled mood switched to an air of attention. "I have sensed a darkness lurking in the shadows threatening to upset the balance of our world. It will be filled with very strong, very dark enemies." The room visibly tensed at her words and whispers filled the air once more. "It is true that I summoned Katie here to help you all battle this darkness. Unfortunately, she still lacks battle experience and needs more training. Is there not a heart in here that will help us?" Her last words lingered in the air while I retreated my chakra and her form evaporating in the air.

I could see Oriel just fine on my own, she was like my shadow to me. But when I had to convince people and show Oriels spirit to others, channeling her being was possible. It was just still slightly difficult for me. Even if it wasn't for long periods of time, it still seemed to get my point across. As I took my seat I slid my eyes over everyone at the table. They were all silent, their eyes still lost in thought.

I guess I would be too if I just saw a spirit that I thought was fake for generations, only for it to be real and tell me I'm about to have a new dark, powerful nemesis. This was all just a crazy situation. I guess it always is.

"That could have been a genjutsu..."

"She could be a spy..."

"Could it be the Akatsuki she spoke of?"

"I don't believe it…."

"She wants to learn our weakness so she can take us down…"

Were people _really_ still not believing me? I just summoned the frickin legend herself! What more was there to see? What was there to fake!?

"You're all a bunch of old men." An elderly woman with long gray hair pulled in a tight braid broke the conversation. "Could you all be blind perhaps? This girl is not lying to us. Even from the beginning when she sent us the letter that was signed by the other Kages her story has not changed. And to have even summoned that spirit? I'm ashamed to be on this council with you all if you think this child is lying."

Wahoo! Where did that old lady come from? Oh heck, I don't care right now, I love you old granny! I mentally cheered for the woman.

"Letters can be faked." One extra wrinkly man interjected. "And what she says about the darkness could be a ploy to get us to teach her our jutsus."

"She wasn't lying." The whole table craned their necks to see who disturbed their deliberation. Kankuro was at the end of the table folding his arms across his chest. He had an annoyed look on his face looking around at the other council members. "Any ninja could tell every word she said was honest. Even that… that spirit thing was real. There was no genjutsu."

Across the table I gave Kankuro a small smile appreciating his words. He returned it with a very quick, subtle smirk and a nod in my direction. Thank Jesus some people were on my side! I saw more whispers and nods of agreement across the floor. I bit my lower lip again in anticipation. What were they discussing? Were the tides finally turned in my favor?

A man that appeared to be in his late 50's adorned with fine robes stood up silencing the council. When he looked at me I could see his eyes were a worn dark brown holding very commanding features. Laying his arms on the table he spoke in a rough baritone voice. "We have come to an agreement. We have decided that you can stay here-"

My inner self shot up and cheered, but I tried to suppress the urge to get up a dance a victory dance.

"However we are placing a shinobi to watch over you."

Old man say what now? "Why?" my face looked as questionable as my voice sounded.

"It is not that we do not trust you, it's just precautionary." I almost rolled my eyes at the word. Precautionary my ass. "Think of it more as a gift than anything. As of now you are regarded as a formal guest. This shinobi can serve as your guide around our village, help you in your training, and be a type of bodyguard."

A bodyguard? I can take care of myself! They just don't want to leave me the frick alone. I'm not that much of a baby that I need a babysitter! What the heck man… "Well then, may I ask who my guide will be then?"

The mans arm extended over to the wonder squad. "Sabaku no Gaara will be your guide."

Goosebumps rolled over my body and I could feel heat rise to my cheeks again. What? Did I just hear this man right? He's gotta be kidding. Why would he be my guide?!

"Gaara is one of our strongest ninjas. He will make an excellent teacher and he also never sleeps so he can guard you at night when you rest."

I guess having Gaara around has its pros….

"You are welcome to stay as long as you wish since you already have room and board figured out. You can roam around our village and fill yourself with our culture as you please. If Gaara gets called on another mission, we will have a replacement for him until he returns. If you have any other questions, please ask either Gaara or Baki, his sensei. If that is all then this meeting is adjourned." The man bowed his head and filed out of the room. A number of other council members quickly followed suit, robes flowing behind them. I couldn't get out of my chair I was still lost in thought and filled with excitement. I was vaguely aware of the wonder squad shooting me looks and whispering as they passed leaving the room. Everything dawned on me. I was going to be spending a lot of time with Gaara. That's what I wanted right? I wanted to train with him, to let him teach me, to watch sunsets, to hold hands, fingers laced together and watch the stars….

"Excuse me miss."

I jumped out of my seat I was so startled. "Yes!" An old woman chuckled in front of me. It was the same woman with the massive braid that stood up for me in the meeting.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb your deep thinking." She smiled an adorable old lady smile, wrinkles and all.

"Oh no! I'm fine, I'm mean its fine." I waved a hand at the lady. Naa… its no big deal. You're too cute to hate old lady.

The lady tucked her hands behind her back striking a knowledgeable pose. "I just wanted to talk to you about that Gaara fellow-" Oh no… was she a Gaara hater? Was she going to bash on him? Tell me he's a monster? "He's had a pretty rough past and he's trying to change, you can tell. It's just… he's having a hard time."

My heart instantly melted and my eyebrows furrowed at the same time. "What do you mean? Are people not… accepting him?"

She shook her head. "Some people have come to notice his subtle changes, but others won't acknowledge him still. They think he's still a monster."

"Still a monster?" my voice was barely above a whisper. I felt sadness run through my body. People were still treating him poorly? Impossible…

"I'll spare you the details. I'm only telling you this because Gaara is officially our only Kazekage candidate." My eyes got wide. Holy god yes! That's exciting! "But he's still rough around the edges and there is always room for improvement. Maybe having you around will help smoothen out the rest."

I raised an eyebrow. "Whats the supposed to mean, granny?"

Her old cackle filled the empty room again. She started to bend over and hold her stomach she was laughing so hard. I thought she was going have a heart attack! "My goodness! I haven't laughed like that in a long time!" She wiped away a tear. "Granny! Ha! I haven't been called that since I last saw my grandkids. I like you, kiddo. You have guts." She patted my shoulder and headed towards the door. "Just remember. Smooth edges." With that, she gave me a wink and exited the room.

Standing there I realized two things. 1. That lady was crazy and 2. I'd be seeing Gaara. A whole lot of Gaara. A devious smile spread across my face. Oh hot damn this was gonna get good.

* * *

><p><strong>Lw: Can you say HECKS YEAH!<strong>

**Katie: FUCKS YEAH! xD**

**Lw: You guessed it! Next chappie has GAARA! WAHOO! **

**Katie: YES! FINALLY! ! ! *****passes out from running around in circles hysterically*******

**Lw: *Picks up katies foot* Well that's what I expected from her… -_-'' See you next time on _Living the Legend!_**


	4. Chapter 4: Dumber than a Box of Rocks

**Lw: Whats everyone been up to lately? Gone somewhere special? Got an awesome gift? Spilt cheese all over the carpet? Lost a tooth? God, I haven't updated in like…. ages… (sweatdrops) -_-' **

**Katie: Yeah I know...**

**Lw: I know.. Im sorry! D: **

**Katie: * Points finger dangerously**** * YEAH YOU BETTER BE! **

**Lw: O.O**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Dumber than a Box of Rocks<strong>

"What?"

"Are you serious?"

I sighed into my hands, a blush already staining my cheeks. Yumi and Mai quickly gained a talent for embarrassing the living day lights out of me…

"Of course I'm serious! I wouldn't be joking about something so-"

"So awesome!" Yumi abruptly cut me off gently slamming her hands on the table. After listening to my story about the council and the "sexy" red head becoming my new "official guide" she wouldn't stop talking about him.

"So where are you hiding him, Katie?" She looked around curiously then eyed me seductively. "He better not be hiding in your shirt, girl. Cause that is _no_ place for a guide!" Yumi tisk tisked me shaking her head side to side. I groaned rolling my eyes. The teasing would come _all_ day. Yumi and Mai only laughed at my displeasure.

"I don't see why you need him when you got _us_!" Mai huffed crossing her arms. "I mean, we practically showed you _everything_ yesterday! He's only good for training the way I see it." She continued to shake her head up and down, agreeing with her thought.

Yumi wrapped an arm around Mai. "Mai, are you blind? By the way this girl is blushing she's already got a crush on the boy!"

"No I don't!" I blurted. I could feel the room get ten degrees hotter by the way my face lit up again.

"Oh yeah? Then why are you so red, huh?" Mai got a devious look on her face.

I waved my hands in front of my face franticly, sweat dropping, "Its not what you think! I'm just… uhh… hot!"

"More like, 'You got the hots!'" Mai and Yumi shared another laugh together while my face flushed a deeper shade of red. Honestly, I don't think my cheeks can take much more of this abuse.

"Fine fine! Say what you like. It's not like I've even _seen_ the guy yet-"

"What do yah mean you haven't seen the guy?" Mai arched an eyebrow accusingly.

"I thought he was your escort?" Yumi questioned.

I rested my head on top of my hand, leaning on the table for support and let out a long sigh. "That's what I thought too, but I haven't seen him since the meeting. Maybe he already hates me?" I was already going over possibilities in my head as to why I haven't seen my escort yet either.

"Why would he? He has no right to!" Yumi chimed.

"I wouldn't worry to much, girlie. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually, especially if the council told him to keep an eye on you. Heck, he's probly watching us right now!" Mai leaned in and whispered the last part. All three of us started to gaze around the café in search of the mysterious boy, trying to see if he was spying. Sadly, we didn't see anything. Maybe he did just disappear? Maybe I'd never actually get to see him and he'd watch me from the shadows? I silently wished that wouldn't happen, I really wanted to talk to him up close at least once or twice...

"Gah! I give up." Exasperated, I scooted out of my chair and stood up. "Ill worry about wonder boy later, I have errands to run for Pema." I ran a hand through my hair. "Ill catch you girls later, okay?" Offering a smile I waved goodbye to my friends. They returned the gesture with smiles of their own and waved me goodbye.

Out on the streets, I reached into my pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper looking over the items on the list. Pema had asked me to drop off and pick up a few things and, being the nice houseguest I am, I humbly accepted.

"Okay, first things first. Go pick up some new shirts for Pema." Nodding, I looked back up from the paper and quickly started off towards the bustling market stands and bazaar further down the street near the center of the village. I couldn't help but smile at people walking by, watching out for little kids running around playing in the street. It felt so natural out here. People where in there own little worlds, going to work, dropping their kids off, running errands of their own. It looked like any other city; even the ones back from my world. I waved at a few people I recognized; regulars from Pemas fruit stand, and they happily returned the gesture. I was becoming more and more acclimated with these people, and just like my host, I was becoming quiet the social butterfly.

"Katie!"

I turned around suddenly, looking for the voice calling my name. I saw a woman waving franticly in my direction and I instantly smiled. "Hey Kimmio!" I waved at the crazy lady across the street.

"What are you waiting for? Come over here and give me a hug!" I quickly followed her orders and embraced the familiar craft tenant, giggling into her shoulder.

"And what are you doing on this fine summer day, my dear?" Kimmio released me from our hug and smiled down at me still holding me out at shoulder length. "Looking as beautiful as ever, I see!" She stroked my hair for emphasis.

"Oh, I'm just running errands for Pema." I smiled back up at Pema's wonderful childhood friend. I remember meeting her not even a day after I first made it to Suna. Kimmio came over and visited her best friend; ecstatic at the news that she got a new roommate. So naturally she had to come over and meet the new member to the family, so to speak. At first, I thought the two ladies were family by the way the acted around each other, but Pema and Kimmio just claimed they were sisters separated at birth. I laughed at their teenage antics, but Kimmio has acted like an adopted sister to me ever since.

"Running around for Pema _again_? I swear, she's got you doing something new every day." Kimmio shook her head, hands on her hips, clucking her tongue.

I just shrugged still smiling. "Its no trouble. Pema's busy enough as it is at the store and I don't want to stress her out anymore than she has to be while she's pregnant. Honestly, it gives me something to do, and keeps me busy." I nudged Kimmio a little playfully, "Plus I get to see your old self more!"

Kimmio brought me into another hug, rubbing her knuckles in my hair messing it up in the process. "Oh you think I'm old huh? Don't fool yourself kid, I'm still young enough to kick your butt!" She continued to ruffle up my hair and we both kept laughing when she let me go.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Kimmio turned around facing her little craft stand, shuffled some things around, and returned holding something behind her back.

"What's that?" I pointed to her back, trying to lean to the side to sneak a peek at the mysterious item.

"It's a gift for you, my dear!" Kimmio pulled her hands around to the front reveling the gift. In her hands was a small silver necklace in the shape of a sphere with a leather chain.

"Oh Kimmio, I don't need a gift…" I continued to admire the beautifully shinning necklace in her hands. Even though the design was simple, it still held an elegant beauty to it.

"Of course you do!" She held up the necklace in the air and a light delicate chiming sound emitted from the little silver ball. My jaw fell open a little at the sound. It was so beautiful…

Kimmio quickly laced it around my neck and smiled at it, pleased at my expression. "See! I'm so glad you like it! It's called a Harmony necklace. Its little chimes are said to clam anything, bringing luck and harmony to the wearer and company around it." Kimmio crossed her arms satisfied at her present.

"But Kimmio, you didn't have too…" I felt bad! I didn't get Kimmio a gift! Had I known she planned this, I'd have gotten her something too! Still in shock, I touched the little charm around my neck and once again heard the harmonic melody. It was so captivating. I'll have to get something for her later, for sure.

"Oh it's the least I can do! You're so nice to Pema, always helping her out. She'd be even more of a mess without you! Just think of it as a welcoming gift." Kimmio gave me a smile and winked at me playfully. I leaped up and hugged her again smiling into her shoulder. I quick squeezed her super tight delighted at the new necklace as thanks. Kimmio only laughed at me and hugged me back tighter.

"Thank you so much Kimmio! Its so beautiful…" I looked down again and listened to the small melody it played with the slightest movements of my body. I loooovveeeedddd iiiiitttttt. I couldn't stop smiling! It was so pretty!

Kimmio patted my back and laughed again. "Well you better get goin girl, I've kept you long enough. Make sure you don't forget anything for Pema, and tell her I say hi! Have a good day, ya here!"

I started to walk away, waving back at my older friend. "I will! Thanks again Kimmio!" I looked down one more time at my new necklace and smiled. Every little step, a soft chime was heard.

* * *

><p>I like shopping as much as the next girl, but holy cow, this was getting old. Iv been shopping for almost 3 hours now and I'm still not done! Well, technically I'm almost done, but still! That's a lot of shopping!<p>

But that's not all. Oh no. Through my whole shopping endeavor I couldn't shake this mysterious feeling. I've felt it ever since I left Kimmio back at her craft stand, and the feelings never left me. It was a constant, deep, tingling sensation that prickled the hairs on the back of my neck and it gave me the willies. It was tolerable, but now it was starting to concern me. It was almost like the feeling…. that feeling you get when someone's watching you.

_**It's that boy…. He's stalking you. **_Oriels voice danced in my head. I did a casual sweep over the streets for red locks of hair, but didn't see anything.

_Are you sure?_

_**Positive. I can feel him…**_I felt my body tense at her words, and subconsciously picked up my pace. I only had a few things left to do for Pema, and then I could head home, easy peasy. Cautiously, I took another glance around the streets and still didn't see anyone with crimson hair sticking out in the crowd, but that feeling was still there. Could it be Gaara? Maybe it was someone else? No… that's unlikely. So it had to be Gaara right? But then why wouldn't he show himself? Could he be scared to meet me?

I scoffed at the idea. Gaara scared? Yeah right! That'd be like asking turtles if they like peanut butter.

Trying to act normal, I kept a small smile on my face, waving to the occasional passerby. I just had to focus. I had two shops left to visit, and then I was home free and I could get rid of this uneasy feeling. But what if Oriel was wrong and someone else was stalking me? Gah!

Why was this so complicated? Why am I freaking out about this?! I want to spend more time with him so I shouldn't be freaking out. What the heck am I saying? It's Gaara! I have a lot of reasons to freak out! As I kept walking, I kept an eye on my surroundings. I looked over my shoulder and down an ally and I even dared a glance at the shadows. Just the thought of someone watching me from the shadows…. My body tensed.

_**Boo!**_

I gasped, jumping about three feet into the air. Holy crap, that scared me.

I could hear chuckling in my head. _Will you cut that out? I about peed my pants and had a heart attack at the __**same time**__! _

_**Cut what out? **_Her laughter died down a little and I could see a smirk gracing the angel's lips deep in my subconscious. What a smartass.

More laughter came from Oriel. _**I'm sorry child, I just couldn't help it! **_I rolled my eyes. _Yeah, I'm sure. _

I grumbled something inaudible and continued walking into a small grocery store to gather all the necessary dinner supplies. Looking at all the exotic shelves, I decided maybe I'd get something a little extra for Pema. Kimmios thoughtfulness from earlier was rubbing off on me and Pema's been nothing but nice to me... She deserved a nice gift once in awhile. Smiling to myself, I picked out all the necessary spices, meat slices, fresh fruit, and cooking utensils Pema requested. Then I checked out, still smiling all the while, the cashier ringing my food, and I quickly paid saying my thanks. Carefully shifting the bags of food in my arms, I headed out the door. I skillfully reached into my pocket and pulled out the list checking it one more time.

"Off to the bakery." Maybe ill get a pie from there for Pema. Or maybe a cake! Or maybe some other exotic desert they have here in Suna.

_**He's still stalking. **_I nodded at the spirit.

_I know I can feel him. _I skillfully folded the paper again and tucked it away in my pocket.

_**I'm sure you can outrun the boy…**_

_Are you kidding? Ah-Why would I run away? I have groceries! I'm not about to take off and waist Pemas food just to see if I can shake someone off my trail. _Why would I run away in the first place? I'm not scared! Okay, I lied. Maybe I'm a little... nervous.

_**Fair enough. But after these errands are done, shall we give him a taste of what he's gotten himself into? **_

I walked into a bakery, smiling and greeting the store clerk, before rolling my eyes at the angel. _You should honestly hear yourself right now… _I shook my head the angel. What was she trying to start here? _You sound so provocative…. _

I had already found and selected all the requested bread and pastries items (and a small chocolate cake) when the spirit snorted with amusement. _**Provocative? Darling, we share the same thoughts. You simply take my advice the wrong way. **_

I just decided to ignore Oriels words completely. After bagging and paying for the food, I swiftly said a thank you to the clerk and exited the bakery heading back onto the streets.

_I know he's still watching me… so why hasn't he come to meet me? _I didn't smell bad; I took a shower that morning. I don't think I came off as bitchy in the council room either, so what could he be avoiding? I thought about what that old crazy council lady said to me after that meeting. If the people in Suna still thought he was a monster, does he think I think he's a monster too?

To engrossed in my thoughts, my foot caught onto another tinier foot. Before I knew it, the smaller kid's momentum sent the rest of his small body crashing right into my lower body, almost taking out my legs. Had it not been for my amazing ninja skills, I would have completely crushed the boy, smothering him with my fat self and the mountain of groceries in my arms.

"Whoa there kid!" Rearranging my bags, I noticed that the boy that ran into me had a friend, possibly the one he must have been chasing. He had came back to see what had happened to his friend. Picking up his comrade, both kids looked at me with big puppy dog eyes and small scared faces. Did they think I was going to yell at them…?

The boys had tears staining the edges of their eyes, looking like they were about to cry. I panicked, "Hey hey hey! Don't cry! Its okay! See? I'm fine, and your fine. See? You're okay! Just slow it down a little and watch where you're going, okay?" I smiled back at the kid who ran into me. When he started to give me a lopsided, tooth-missing grin I knew all traces of sadness were gone.

"Sowie!" He took off after his apology, chasing after his friend down the street once again, expertly dodging people among the crowd. Watching the boys take off down the street I smiled, shaking my head. Kids. They're carefree and wild. Turning to head back to Pemas, something caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye I saw…. something familiar…. a head… with blood red hair.

I did double take to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. I blinked and thought it was a mirage, but it was true. Not twenty yards away was the boy that had been absent all day. Speckled among the decently crowded streets stood the demon carrier himself. Even at a distance, sea foam eyes were carefully calculating my every move. That must have been his plan this whole time. Observe me from afar for a little; make sure I'm not too much of a hassle or something. What blew my mind was that if I hadn't taken a double take, I would have completely missed his small figure scattered with the civilian people around him. Has he been hiding in plain sight this whole time? I must be blind…

_**He's staring at you….**_

_Well no duh he's staring! _

While local residents passed by un-phased, we both had stood absolutely still in the middle of the streets just gazing at the other like nothing else mattered. He looked like a statue and I probly looked ridiculous with my arms filled with groceries and a dumb, shocked expression on my face. Why wasn't he coming over? Why was he just staring? Did I really look that bad? A confused expression crossed my face and a light pink shade dusted over my cheeks. This wasn't awkward at all….

_**Now you're staring…**_

_No one asked for your opinion! _My face flooded with blood glowing a new shade of red. _This is so dumb! _

_**Then go over to him and properly introduce yourself! **_

_I-I… _I couldn't take the pressure anymore. I broke the staring contest we were having and smiled slightly at my feet. I felt like a dumb little schoolgirl hiding from her crush! He's obviously not going to come over. So should I go over to him? Would he walk away? GAH! THIS IS SO HARD!

Before I even knew what was going on, my body decided to kick into gear. My legs started walking further and further down the street towards Pemas house. The opposite direction from where Gaara was standing.

_**Child, are you nuts? I thought you liked this boy!**_

_You don't understand! I can't just go over to him! It's-_

_**Stop! Quit being a chicken!**_

Oh, god. What have I just done? I just… I just walked away from him. Not _just_ anyone, but _Gaara. _I looked him in the eye, so I know he saw me and I totally saw him, but I just walked away. What the _HELL _was I thinking? My pride wouldn't let me go back. I let out a nervous sigh. Who was I kidding? I'm just a scaredy cat. I was practically in love with this kid back home, and after _finally_ seeing him out here in person… What was I thinking? I'm so stupid. He'd hate me for not going over to him and saying something. He probly thinks I'm just like everyone else… But I guess he wouldn't be too mad, right? He's been avoided before; surely this was nothing new to him. I still felt super guilty regardless.

_**Are you dumber than a box of rocks? He's your escort! Go back for him!**_

_I-I cant!_

_**Why not!**_

_I-I'm shy…._ My thoughts drifted back to my little fantasy crush actually standing there in the middle of the street. Back home, I would have a thousand times over, run over to him and greeted him happily and enthusiastically. But no, what did I do? I just walked away.

_**Oh for the love of-**_

I dismissed Oriels complaints and focused back onto the tingling sensation that pricked my neck again. I could feel Gaara following me like before. Looking over my shoulder back down the street where I had previously stood, I noticed the boy wasn't there any longer. Continuing my walk towards the house, I carefully scanned the rooftops of the buildings in search of my elusive guide. If he'd be anywhere it'd be up there.

_**He wouldn't be so elusive if you just went over-**_

_Shut up! _My cheeks were already burning red for the 100th time today. Clearing my mind, I focused on coming home to Pema. She'd have some dinner ready, we'd eat and have fun, clean a little, play a game or too, and go to bed. Nice and clam. Not one following me, no one stalking me.

Looking up at the sky I watched the sun set, disappearing behind the tall buildings. I noticed the streets were clearing and people were retiring for the night leaving me to walk down the fading streets. But still, I couldn't shake that feeling. Looking back up to the rooftops I made a mental note to talk to him soon. To apologize...

I let out a long sigh. What a day.

_Better get home soon, Pema's probly wondering where I am. _So to pick up the speed, I decided to take a short cut, bounding over rooftops with groceries in hand.

* * *

><p>In the shadows, teal eyes watched the house from the adjacent rooftop. A girl arrived home just as it was getting dark, knocking twice and then opening the door to be let inside. Even from a distance, one could see she was greeted with a warm welcome and the delicious smell of home made soup. Teal eyes continued to watch trough the windows of the house. The girl walked into the kitchen to unload the groceries and talked leisurely to the other resident. The older woman was standing by the stove tending to a huge pot of simmering soup while the girl stored the groceries and talked. He watched their mouths move with every word, even sharing a few laughs together.<p>

He watched them till they both fell asleep.

He watched them both, especially the girl, like this for almost a week. Guarding them atop their sand house at night and observing them during the day from afar. He already knew their daily activities like the back of his hand. It was routine and simple. He thought back to the day he locked eyes with that girl. Her eyes… He turned his gaze towards the stars above his head enjoying his solitude until something decided to disturb his privacy.

* * *

><p><strong>Lw: Duh duh duh! <strong>

**Katie: I'm SUCH a BABY! D:**

**Lw: Hey man, I don't blame ya. Gaara's definitely got the intimation factor goin for him. **

**Katie: And a number of other things… xD **

**Lw: Review! :D**


	5. Chapter 5: Invitations

**Lw: Ever made peanut butter blossoms with Andes mints instead of the Hershey's kisses? **

**Katie: No…?**

**Lw: Its kind of a good substitute.**

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><p><strong>Invitations<strong>

It had been a whole week since I had my little staring contest with Gaara. A whole frickin week! It was probably the longest week of my life… you wanna know why it was the longest week of my life? It was cause I still hadn't talked to him yet. Can you believe me? I had gone a whole week of little to no contact with my guide. I still can't even believe it myself.

He obviously took his job seriously because I _know_ he was watching me this whole time. He never took a break. I only know this because I could always feel his aura nearby. I wonder if he knows I know he's stalking me? I guess that doesn't matter.

What's funny is that most of the time I know where he is when he's stalking me. Just far enough away to keep a good distance between us, but still close enough to protect me at the same time. Sometimes I can pinpoint his exact location from the streets. At night, I can feel him above us, watching over Pema and I on the rooftops. I felt safe but it was an odd thing we were doing with each other. In a way, we were stalking each other at a distance.

But that's what also pissed me off the most. Everything was from a _distance_. For the first two days I had tried to completely ignore him and his stalkerish tendencies because I still felt ashamed of my first impression on the boy. But that avoiding technique failed when I kept thinking about him and the constant prickling sensation on the back of my neck didn't exactly help either... But throughout this whole week I tired to keep myself busy by visiting Mai and Yumi and playing with the playground kids, helping Pema clean the house, tend to the store, visit Kimmio, and even training on some days. But that wasn't enough.

I was driving myself _mad_! Nothing kept me busy enough to ease my conscious. Constantly, I thought about how rude and mean I was to Gaara. How stupid I was for walking away without even saying a word. He didn't deserve what I had done; he'd gotten that his whole life. He's trying to better himself, and hear I am shutting him down! I ran through a number of different scenarios in my head of how our first meeting would have gone, had I not just left him in the streets. How everything would be much better and way different. Guilt was eating me away from the inside out. Every time I saw something red, or I felt a wave of goose bumps roll over my skin from his sniper eyes, I thought of him.

So I finally decided that enough was enough. Tonight was the night I'd make things up to him. I'd meet him on the rooftop, apologize, and things will become all peachy. We'd start over! Like nothing ever happened! We'd start from the beginning. Brilliant!

So when night rolled around I was lying awake on my bed, ankles crossed and hands behind my head, restless and nervous. What if he didn't say anything? What if he just decided to kill me? What if he just ignored me? Would he even listen? Would he accept my apologies? Stupid nerves… making me second-guess myself!

I sighed, trying to calm my heart. I just needed to get this over with. I was going to go crazy if I didn't fix things between us.

My eyes slid to the alarm clock blinking its red light at my face on my nightstand. 1:36 am. _Sigh._

Rolling up and out of my bed I got ready for my adventure. By now Pema would have long been asleep so we'd have our privacy out on the rooftop. I strolled over to my window, looking at the crescent moon shinning among the stars in the navy blue sky.

_**Now or never…**_

I nodded. With one last breath, I opened my window and swiftly made my way to the roof.

When I landed, I could make out his form sitting close to the edge of the roof. I was behind him, so I saw him leaning casually against his gourd, an elbow propped up on the peanut shaped mass with a leg extended out resting along the roof, while the other was propped up forming a 4 shape position. His other arm was resting along the inner thigh of his fully extended leg with his eyes towards the moon.

Standing upright, I smiled to myself. He looked so majestic sitting there all by himself bathed in the moonlight. My heart clenched at the sight.

"Why are you here?" Sand rustled by his peanut shaped gourd and his raspy voice cut through the air. I was startled by the sound of his voice. It sounded clam like he was expecting me, yet it sounded rough like sandpaper but soft like velvet. You could tell his voice was getting deep with maturity… I shivered getting goose bumps.

He hadn't turned around when he asked me his question, so I took a few steps forward so he could see me from the side. I made sure there was still plenty of space between us when I moved; I didn't want to startle him. I felt myself start to fiddle with my nails and bite my bottom lip. _Now's not the time to get nervous! Show confidence! _I turned my gaze towards the sky admiring the moons phase and the stars dancing around in the sky.

I smirked_. Just be confident!_ "I wanted to talk to you."

His sand had long since stopped moving at the recognition of my presence and I felt his eyes slide to me. His face hadn't moved keeping his clam mask, but his eyes were watching me carefully. The air became filled with our silence all expect for a light chilling breeze that made me regret my out fit of choice. They where my pj's of course, a white tank top and some loose shorts.

The silence wasn't bothering me at the moment though; I hadn't expected him to say much to me so I was ready for it. It didn't feel awkward, just… patient. I'd even dare call it calming almost, because I knew he was listening to me.

Keeping the silence I took a seat from my distance sitting Indian style. I was silently impressed by how Gaara hadn't take off or moved yet by my actions. This told me a few things: one being he was making strides in becoming a better person, and two to be cautious. This ment I wasn't going to get any closer to him and I was OK with that for now. If I got any closer I was afraid he'd either get up and leave, or kill me and I'd rather not have either of those options happen so this was it. Even if he was making strides I didn't want to take that risk. So, assuming he still wasn't used to close contact with people, I just wasn't going to push it.

I already had one plus, don't wanna risk another.

After a silence that seemed to last a lifetime I started to feel uncomfortable. Gaara had stopped staring at me and resumed his intense stargazing but I was still biting my lip in an awkward position. I had to say something to break the silence, but where do I start? Sorry I'm an asshole can you forgive me? I rolled my eyes and let out a small sigh. I was already this far! It was now or never.

"I wanted to talk to you about last Monday." I was staring at my feet and holding my ankles. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Gaara slide his gaze down towards the city of Suna, so I continued.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did. I was a complete ass and I don't like how our relationship is starting off, because quiet frankly its crap." I turned my body so that I was still sitting, but actually facing him now, emphasizing my efforts. I saw a faint crease in his brow but that didn't stop my word vomit.

"I'm sorry for not coming up to and introducing myself sooner. It was rude of me to just leave you standing in the street back there…" A hand made its way up behind my head and scratched the back of my neck. "I would have talked to you sooner, I just…" I paused thinking of the right words. "I just thought you hated me at first… so I didn't know what to do. And now I want to make it up to you-"

He turned his body so his back was resting against his gourd, arms and legs crossed, a solid blank expression on his face. The only expression I caught was confusion from his creased brow and eyes that appeared deep in thought. The moons light still bathed his milky, porcelain skin deepening the dark rings around his eyes. His eyes looked fierce yet calm, piercing out from the blackness that surrounded his teal pools. They where so mesmerizing….

Another wave of confidence rolled through me while I placed my hand on my knees. "I just want us to start over because I don't like this distance we have with each other. I-I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" After my confession I tried to look him in the eyes.

He was staring at me brows furrowed and a thoughtful expression on his face. If this wasn't such an important conversation to me I might have thought his expression looked cute…

"Sorry…" his whispered word sounded just as confused as his expression.

"Yeah I'm really sorry." I nodded my head for emphasis.

"This… is an apology?"

I looked at him wondering if this boy was serious. "Yeah it is…" What kind of question was that?

There was a pause.

"What… do you do with… an apology?" he voice rolled over the foreign word.

I nearly fainted on the spot. My shocked expression must have said it all for him. "Gaara… has no one ever _apologized_ to you before?"

"No." he said it so bluntly I thought he was joking. But then again, this was Gaara I'm talking to here. For one he doesn't joke about anything, and two people seemed to have manners like a rock when anything had to do with him…

"Well… you can either reject an apology if you don't believe the person is sincere enough to you, or… you can accept it if you believe that persons apology was adequate and meaningful enough to you."

His eyes deepened in thought and his face remained a clam blank mask. I wonder if I just confused his little mind even further...

"I agree with you."

"What?" Did I just hear him right? He _agrees _with me? I think I'm officially going crazy.

"Our… situation hasn't been on the best of terms." His eyes locked with mine. "I would like to amend this."

I could feel my face light up at his words. "Yeah?" I couldn't believe it! It must have been on the council's orders or something but for him to agree with me? I got up and stretched to my happiness. "Perfect! We'll start over right now!"

I marched right over to Gaara and plopped down next to him lying down on my back. He looked shocked for a second and then it turned to indifference turning his body back towards the open city. I couldn't help the smile that broke across my face as I tucked my hands behind my head and stared at the night sky. The moon took up most of the view with stars splashed across the sky twinkling brighter than they were a few minutes ago.

"Why are you smiling?"

I turned to look at the boy to answer his question but noticed he wasn't looking at me but rather down at the city again. "I'm just glad we're starting over is all."

He didn't respond to my answer so I returned to my stargazing. After about ten minutes of watching the sky I yawned and started to get up and go back to my bed.

Walking back to my side of the roof, I gave one last glance at Gaara. He hadn't moved an inch since I got up and laid next to him earlier. Watching him there made me think of how lonely he looked… Then I got an idea…

"Hey Gaara…" I mentally slapped myself. Of course he wouldn't answer, he's probably already used up his word count for the night…

"I just wanted to say thanks for accepting my apology." His eyes kept on the city, still sitting still like a statue under the moons light. If I didn't know any better I'd think he was ignoring me…

"Umm, also, tomorrow… I'm meeting with some friends of mine. You come too, and yah know, hang out…." Man that sounded better in my head….. He still sat cross-legged and motionless ignoring my presence all together. Well at least he heard me. I think…

"Well, if your interested I'm leaving at noon." I finally turned to leave and go to bed. "Night."

* * *

><p><strong>Lw: Would Gaara bother himself enough to attend a little outing with Katie?<strong>

**Katie: Yes! No.. Yes. I mean, WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING? Gaara would never come with me to meat my friends... D':**

**Lw: So why the duck did you ask him in the first place, stupid?**

**Katie: MWAHAHA! *Evil laugh* It's all a part of my plan… now I just set the bait…**


	6. Chapter 6: Not Just a Play Thing

**Lw: I saw that Batman movie, (Dark Knight Rises) and I like, fell in love with Joseph Gordon-Levitt all over again. **

**Katie: Dude I know! He was good in Inception, 500 days of summer and will make a GREAT Robin! **

**Lw: Too bad they aren't making a sequel for robin… and for that, this is 12 pages! (5,000 words) WHOOT!**

**Katie: I LOVE YOU ROBBIN!**

* * *

><p><strong>Not Just a Play Thing<strong>

"You did what!" Mai and Yumi chorused.

I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. "You heard me… I apologized to Gaara last night and I invited him to join us tod-"

Yumi viciously shook my shoulders, her face inches from mine. "Well where is he! You didn't ditch him did you! How could you?! Where are your manners?! You need some better manners woman!"

I sweat dropped at Yumi's frustration. She sure was crazy for Gaara…

"Yumi calm down!" Mai released me from Yumis death grip. "I'm sure Katie has _some_ manners!"

"Hey!" I gave my friends an accusing look, hands on my hips. "For your information, I waited for him to show up! I'm not _that _mean! Why do you think I was so late? He just… never showed up."

It was true. I had waited for Gaara in front of Pemas house for a good 30 minutes before I figured he just wasn't going to show. When I finally met up with my friends they instantly scolded me for being late and demanded to know the cause of my tardiness. You can imagine their surprise when I told them I waited for my guard and not the other way around…

"But why would he just leave you, hmm? That doesn't sound like him at all." Yumi posed in thought.

Mai just shrugged. "I'm actually impressed he even accepted your apology. It'd be a big step for him to just turn around and start magically walking around in public with a bunch of girls."

Mai had a point. Maybe inviting him to come with us was too big of a step for him. Maybe he was embarrassed? Or perhaps nervous? Whatever the case, it'd be a miracle if he changed his mind and decided to come.

"But you haven't seen him at all this morning so I wonder if he has business or something important to do today." Yumi thought out loud.

_She has a point. I haven't felt his presence all morning. _Oriels added thoughtfully.

Mai shrugged once again. "Eh, what are we all worrying for so much! If he wants to spend time with us, he can. No ones stopping him. But I'm not gonna wait all day for the kid! He can find us later." Mai wrapped her arms around Yumi and I and started walking off. "Anyways, we already have a fun day planned! Sand volleyball in the Crevice!"

I gave both girls a funny look. They had volleyball in Naruto? Hmmm… I didn't know that. "Where's the Crevice?"

"Well, it's a place where all the older, non-ninja kids go and hang out in there free time. The Crevice is an actual break in the rock wall surrounding Suna that leads out to the ocean." Yumi explained.

"Yeah, kids bring all sorts of stuff to the place for fun. There's this amazing court too, set for volleyball and a number of other games." Mai added smiling.

"Mai really likes playing volleyball. She kind of has a natural talent for it." Yumi smiled.

"Hell yeah I do!" Mai fist pumped the air. "Bitches think they can beat me and my team, but they are _wrong_!"

I laughed at Mai's enthusiasm. "Mai! You sound like a beast!"

She took a proud stance. "You better believe it!"

"Oh look!" Yumi stopped our short walk and clasped her hands together with glee. "We're here!" Yumi smiled up at a store.

"Uhmm, Yumi? Why are we standing outside a clothing store?" The name of the store read, _The Shoreline_. This was a pretty popular store in Suna, well known for its high quality clothing brands selling a variety of seasonable apparel all year round. Not to mention it was pricey…

"We're going swim suit shopping of course! You can't go to a beach without one, silly." Yumi walked into the store still grinning ear to ear.

"Common girly, you can't stand there all day! We need to get going!" Mai pulled me into the store following after our friend.

"B-but I already have a suit!" I tried to plead. I didn't need them to waste their money on me! I could have brought my swimsuit had I known what we were doing today!

"Oh don't be shy. Just find something you like! It'll take too long to go back home and have everyone change. This'll be much quicker!" Mai smiled and led me over to the swimwear section where Yumi was already holding up cute outfits.

"Oh Katie, here! Try this one on! Mai, would this look good on me? Oh. Wait. No, I-I lied, I like this one better." Yumi handed me a bikini and continued to argue with herself over different suits.

"Uhh…" I looked at the bikini Yumi handed me. The bottom was a solid black color, and the top had different color changing slants that ran along the cups. It was accented with solid black slants matching the bottoms.

I kept staring at it debating if I liked it or not… I guess it was pretty cute. I liked the changing colors and it was simple enough for me. I decided to get it.

I looked back around the store and saw Mai picking out a bikini top to match her long, boy board shorts she found and had to have. Yumi eventually found a wonderful orange and teal swimsuit, accenting her light orange very nicely.

So after Yumi and Mai paid for all the new swimwear, with a promise from me to pay them back, we all changed and made our way to the Crevice.

* * *

><p>"So… don't we need to bring a volleyball to play or something?" I asked. We had exited the outskirts of the city and we were finally coming up to the large rock wall that surrounded the village and I could start to see a huge break in the wall. From far away you could never tell there was a break in the wall, but once you got close, it was huge!<p>

It's a wonder no one else noticed this whole before and said something! Guess it really was a secrete crevice…

"Nope! Someone always has a ball, and we leave it at the court so no one has to keep lugging it around." Mai smiled, arms tucked behind her head.

We started walking through the wall, suddenly covered by the shade the crevice provided. "This place would be kind of creepy if I didn't know what was on the other side." Did I say that out loud?

Yumi giggled and Mai nodded. "It definitely keeps away any unwelcomed guests."

Walking a little further through the wall, I could see the light at the end of the crevice. Once we broke through the light, I was amazed. The slightly long walk was totally worth it.

A warm ocean breeze licked our faces once we exited the tunnel. I was amazed to see a large group of older teens playing on the sand. Off to the side, there were even more people laying on the white sandy beach, playing volleyball, and surfing in the ocean all enjoying the sun and privacy. The beach was virtually secluded except for the abundance of kids having fun! It was amazing!

"Hey-ya ladies!" Kenji was running up the beach towards us smiling and waving. "Finally you guys made it!" He swiftly wrapped and arm around Mai and winked. "Ready to kick some butt on the court?"

"Hell yeah!" Mai cheered.

"Then lets go! They're about to start a new game!" Kenji had us all follow him towards the sand court. A few guys were still playing while they had a crowd of girls watching them, cheering for both sides. Eventually the match point was won when one side set the ball perfectly and their teammate spiked the ball in an unprotected spot. The girls all cheered, swooning over all the boys without shirts.

The winning team, I noticed, were blessed with dramatically good looks. I felt myself blush eyeing their abs and nicely toned bodies…

"Anyone else wanna try and beat us?" Taunted one of the victorious team members. The one shouting had dark blue hair, and must have been their captain when Kenji quickly jumped onto the court.

"Hey Kai! We'll play you!" Kenji smirked when both Mai and Yumi got into the court following after their friend.

"Kenji, you might want to do your math again, because you're short one person." Kai laughed, and so did his team.

"What are you-" Kenji looked at Mai and Yumi who were on the on court, and then spotted me still on the sidelines. "Katie! What are you doing? Get over here!"

I bit my lip. I didn't know I was recruited! I loved sports but was he serious? If Mai was as good as Yumi said she was, they didn't need me. And I was a ninja for peets sake! We were practically a loaded team!

"Are you sure Kenji?" I didn't want to make this completely unfair… not that I'd be much help.

"Awe common Katie! Don't be scared! It's easy!" Mai cheered.

"Yeah! It's fun!" Yumi encouraged.

"Kenji, don't make the poor girl do something she doesn't want to. After all, we can't see that pretty face of hers getting hurt, now do we boys." Kai taunted. The girls watching the match all swooned and his team just smirked.

That made me quickly step into the court. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about this pretty face if I were you." I teased, hands on my hips. "Lets just hurry up and play!" I smiled to my team giving them a thumb up.

"Whoop! You guys are goin down!" Mai jumped up and cheered with excitement, pony flipping in the air.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Kai laughed with excitement as well. "Since you folks have the most ladies on your side, we'll let you have the first serve." He tossed the ball to me and I walked back to the corner to serve while I ignored the girls swooning again for those boys.

"What a gentleman!" One sighed happily.

"Go easy on them Kai!" Another called.

"Oh they are just so adorable!" That came from a group of girls I think…

I sighed at their girly-ness. I looked at my team and they all gave me smiles of encouragement. I had played volleyball a few times back home with friends and in gym, so I was no stranger to the rules. But that doesn't mean I was actually _good_ at volleyball…

I just wanted to cream those cocky boys. Giving the other team one last scan, I was filled with my favorite emotion. Competition.

I served the ball and was surprised by how hard I hit the ball over the net. The boys kept the ball into play, and I was quickly surprised by our teams abilities. Both Mai and Yumi were amazing blockers whenever the boys set up for a spike. Kenji and I were giving great back up, diving for balls whenever someone missed the ball by chance. Mai was a really deadly spikier, nearly scoring a point every time she got a chance to hit the ball. Yumi actually surprised me the most. She was very athletic, despite her petit physical appearance, and was an amazing setter for Mai.

I even managed to hit the balls a few times, keeping the ball in court and faking the boys out by gently tapping the ball over the net or setting it up for either Kenji or Mai. We were impressive!

Our team ended up winning the first match winning by 4, and then the boys came back to take the second match to win by 2. The final match was the most intense! The score kept going back and forth, neither team letting up. By now everyone had gotten a feeling for the other teams weak points and strengths. No one ever broke more than a 2-point lead. We had unintentionally drawn quite the crowd now, people were cheering for both sides viciously!

"Kenji!" I called diving for the ball, narrowly saving it and hitting it into the air. Kenji was ready and set the ball high in the air. Yumi jumped up ready to strike and the boys jumped up to block her strike, except Yumi had faked it! Instead of Yumi hitting the ball, she let the ball keep going past her and Mai jumped up, quickly spiking the ball earning our team another point.

"Wahoo! Way to go Yumi! Nice fake!" Kenji high fived her.

"Nice one Mai!" I called as I got the ball back to serve. "Just need one more, lets hold them off!" The score was 27-26 with us in the lead. The game is only supposed to go to 25, but you have to win by two, so you keep playing until someone comes out on top.

"You're goin down!" Mai fist pumped again and the crowd went wild.

I served the ball and the boys quickly set up for another spike. Mai and Yumi jumped up to block it, but the ball hit their hands funny and it went soaring way out of bounds. Without even thinking I chased after the ball, ninja speed kicking in. Two more steps and I braced myself to hit the ball back towards the court. With my back turned towards both my team and the court, I reached out watching in slow motion the ball connect with my wrists. I didn't know where this was gonna land, I just tried to aim it behind me somewhere and prayed someone managed to get it. My momentum sent me diving face first in the sand after I sent the ball flying.

I quickly turned around and desperately searched for the ball. Kenji had somehow managed to set the ball up from my dive-balling hit, and Mai jumped up ready to spike it one last time. But the boys saw it coming and were already jumping up to block the hit. Yumi however, surprised everyone and jumped in front of Mai and gently hit the ball over the net just to the right of the blocking boys, who were unable to save the ball in time.

We scored the final point all thanks to Yumi! We beat them 28-26!

The crowd went crazy! Kenji, Mai, Yumi rushed over to me ecstatic.

"That was the coolest dive ever!"

"I can't believe you managed to hit that! That was amazing!"

"Best teammate EVER!"

Mai and Yumi helped me up and started brushing the sand off of me, still raving over the win. Other members from the crowd had gathered around me, giving me high five's and congratulating me on the save. I felt awesome, but I didn't even score the winning point!

"I think we deserve to give Yumi some credit, she's the one that surprised everyone!" I laughed and hugged Yumi and everyone cheered.

Kai and his team walked over to our side of the court when some of the people cleared after all the congratulations were done. He stopped and smiled at us. "Well, Kenji, that was quite the game. Got some killer teammates." He smirked at Mai, Yumi and I.

"Well, when it comes to the ladies, I only pick the best!" Both boys shared a laugh and fist bumped with no hard feelings about the game. Mai, Yumi, and I ignored Kenji's comment and shook the other boys hands for good sportsmanship.

Oh boy… if I thought they were good looking before the game, I was dead wrong now. They were even sexier up close, slightly covered in a nice sheen of sweat. It was to die for. I melted inside a little…

Yumi must have had the same thoughts as me because she totally blushed at the last guy who shook her hand. He kissed the top of her hand and gave a dashing smile, making her turn crimson!

Her face was so priceless I wanted to laugh!

* * *

><p>After that game, we spent the rest of the evening just goofing off.<p>

We all played in the ocean and swam enjoying the perfect weather. Kenji eventually left to wrestle in the sand with some of his boys, while Yumi, Mai and I continued to enjoy the sun and water.

We started to search for shells to see who could make the best sand castle. Mai and I got really into it… We made our castles very elaborate with lots of decorations, with moats, archways, and even towers! While Yumi, on the other hand, got completely distracted and just ended up looking for pretty shells.

Mai eventually won the sand castle contest because some kid fell into mine and squished it…

We buried him in the sand.

We also got together with a random group of kids and played with a beach ball in the water. The object of the game was 'don't let the ball touch the water', which made for pretty intense saves and splashes. That was a lot of fun.

Walking back to shore though, Mai got bit in the butt by a crab!

Yumi and I couldn't stop laughing until we finally managed to get the crab off her butt. I'll admit it was pretty feisty for a crab, and it even tried snapping at us! But we tossed it into the ocean much to Mai's pleasure. Later however, Mai got revenge on us by finding 2 more crabs and pinched them to our butts…

She definitely got the last laugh on that one…

When the sun started setting bon fires were being set ablaze and people were roasting food over the fire while telling wild stories. A select few brought their instruments to the beach and started to play music to entertain the mini crowds around the fire. Mai and Yumi started dancing to the music while I just sat around laughing at their ridiculous dance moves. They certainly were quite the pair!

As the night over took the sky, I couldn't help but stare at the moon. It shone so bright over the oceans water and the stars lit up the sky perfectly, looking like a scene from the movies. I found myself becoming restless from just sitting around, so I excused myself while I got up from my spot by the fire and started to walk down the beach. Once I was a comfortable distance away, I sighed walking into the waters edge trying to sort out this sudden, horrible feeling.

I couldn't explain it, but I just felt like something bad was going to happen. Was that why I felt anxious? My stomach felt light and knotted… something just didn't feel right all of a sudden.

But we were safe on a secluded beach. What could possibly find us out here? Let alone hurt us. Maybe I'm just being paranoid…

_This is unnerving. _Oriel danced next to me over the waters small wake. She looked towards the four bonfires scattered along the beach. _You need to head back…_

"Yeah, I supposed you're right." I looked towards the fires, starting to make my way back. Everyone still looked like they were having a good time, so everything must be fine. "I wonder where Mai and Yumi are now-"

A sudden scream pierced through the air. Without hesitating, I broke into a full sprint towards the source. Teenagers were starting to scream scattering all over, running away from the source of the scream. I tore through the crowds trying to find the enemy when I heard another scream from a girl.

"N-No, please! J-just let me go!"

I stopped in the quickly diminishing crowd of teens when I spotted Mai and Yumi. They appeared to be watching something intently. I followed their nervous gaze to the source and gasped.

Kenji was clearly ready for a fight, trying to rescue the girl from-

….w-wait a second….

….w-was that a _sand_ ninja?

The sand ninja didn't look familiar to me, but I tensed when I saw he held the girl in an arm lock around her neck, ready to make a move.

"Let her go!" Kenji charged at the ninja ready to throw a punch at him, but the ninja smirked and easily threw the girl into Kenji catching him off guard. The girl fell right into his arms, and knocked both of them over. The ninja merely laughed.

"Such pathetic opponents! You can't even catch a little girl!" He laughed again. "I guess it will be easy defeating you all then!"

He turned his attention to Mai and Yumi who were standing all alone and exposed now that all the other teens were gone.

"Another easy target. Oh well, a win's a win." The sand ninja pulled out 2 kunai and let them glisten in the moonlight. "Time to finish you!" He threw the kunai while laughing at their shocked faces.

I gave a panicked glance towards Mai and Yumi. They were completely frozen…

My heart sank. They neither of them moving to dodge the kunai…

"MOVE!" Kenji yelled in vain trying to move the once captured girl off of him.

Suddenly, a white chakra whip knocked the projectiles away from both Mai and Yumi just before they reached their targets.

"Hahaha! Finally! Someone who can fight!" The ninja called, his attention now fully directed to me.

_Something's not right…_ Oriel floated next to me and stared intently at the sand ninja before us. _There's something inside of him… it's almost like… he's just chakra. _

"I know." I whispered. I didn't have to see it to understand what Oriel ment. This person in front of us… it didn't feel like we was even a person. And it sure wasn't a substitution either…

"What are you?" I called to the supposed sand ninja. I had never seen this guy either, and quite frankly, nothing extraordinary stood out to me. He wore the traditional black ninja pants and tan jounin vest with spiked shoulder blades. His hair was black and he wore his headband around his forehead.

He looked like your average plain old ninja I guess…

"I am a fighter! I gain strength by defeating those around me. And you my dear, are next!" He rapidly made hand seals and sent a huge gust of wind our way.

I simply held my hand out palm up and put up a clear chakra shield to protect not only myself from the winds, but my friends as well. They were within reach of the attack and I still needed to protect them. The winds blew out the fires around us and sent a flurry of sand everywhere. Mai and Yumi looked my way and smiled a thanks, but I was still focused on the not-so-real-ninja.

When the wind died down, we all stood un-phased by his attack. He didn't look too happy about that either.

I smirked at his displeased face. "You're going to need a lot more than wind to defeat me."

"Oh yeah? Well take this!" The ninja sprinted for me and pulled out a sword ready to slash me to pieces.

_Idiot. _Oriel scoffed.

Kenji noticed I hadn't moved yet and he got anxious. "Katie! Watch out!"

His attack was so obvious I could have dodged it in my sleep. He kept wildly swinging his sword around trying to cut me, but I kept swooping and sidestepping his attacks. He grew upset.

"Stand still so I can cut you!" He growled.

I smiled when he quickened his swinging speed slightly, but that did him no good. I was still able to dodge his attacks. He tried slicing my face one last time, but I turned away at the last second so he narrowly missed my face. I jumped away from to get some distance in between us, but I noticed my cheek felt warm.

I lifted my hand to touch my cheek and it was bleeding slightly. The man looked pleased with himself.

"Looks like you under estimated me!" he laughed again. "Can't dodge me forever, now can you?"

I scoffed. "I've played around with you long enough. Lets end this."

"With pleasure." He sneered. I waited for him to charge, and sure enough, he took off into a sprint, sword at the ready.

At the last minute I sidestepped his sword attack and grabbed his wrist. I spun to the side and quickly jabbed him a few times in the side, catching him off guard. He tried to swing a fist at me with his open hand, but I caught his fist in my hand. I swung the hand with his sword over his face, so his body forcibly turned and his back was facing my front. I kneed him hard in the back and he cried out in pain. I released both his hands and sent a chakra laced punch to the base of his neck and watched him fall over unconscious.

I couldn't help but smirk to myself. He wasn't even that tough!

"Yeah, and I thought you said you were going to have a real fight… what a sham." I shook my head. "Whatever I guess."

I turned towards my friends to see if they were all okay, but their faces were in awe. They had never seen me fight before, and it looked like they were impressed. Even though I didn't do much…

"You guys okay?" I offered meekly.

"Katie! Look!" Kenji pointed towards the defeated ninja.

I heard a strange popping sound and looked back at the sand shinobi narrowing my eyes slightly. Where the shinobi should have been, a little black doll was now laying in the sand. Walking over, I picked up the toy and examined it closer. The doll was quite light with black and grey carvings into it in the shape of an hourglass, similar to the symbol for a Suna ninja. Kenji, Mai and Yumi all got closer with new found wonder. Having never experienced anything ninja related really, they were fascinated by what they just saw.

"What is that?" Yumi asked pointing to the doll, clearly intrigued.

"A toy doll?" Kenji looked over my shoulder at the object. "Impossible!"

"But it was just alive and attacking people! It can't just be a fricken play thing!" Mai yelled. "How does it work?"

"I don't know what it is." I said giving it another look while standing up. "Or even how it works. But what ever it is, it can't be good." I put the doll away and sighed. "I guess I'll hold onto it for now and alert someone of what happened tonight." I looked at my friends and they seemed a bit tired and I mentally laughed. They barely went through anything, yet they were worn out. So cute.

The three of them nodded in agreement. "Keep the damn thing. Lets just head home, that was _way_ to much excitement for one day."

* * *

><p>After escorting everyone home, I jumped on the rooftop of Pemas house and quickly made my way to my room. I started changing and I set the doll on my nightstand, staring at it questionably from my position on my bed.<p>

_I don't think we should keep it. _Oriel sat on the edge of my windowsill arms crossed. _Do you see what it's doing? _

I shook my head and closed my eyes. "Sight beyond sight…" When I opened them, my eyes were no longer green, but were a dull rainbow color.

I could suddenly see the doll sucking little streams of my chakra away, like it was sucking chakra up like a vacuum.

I reached a hand closer to the doll and the stream of chakra thickened a little and I could slightly feel the dolls power increase. I gasped, pulling my hand away quickly.

This thing was _feeding_ of off other people's chakra!

_Burn it. _Oriel said still sitting from her perch on the window.

I quickly lit a candle and held the doll over the flame. I watched in wonder as the doll didn't burn a typical red-orange color, but rather burned a black-purplish flame…

"I think…" My eyes filled with wonder as I watched the last of the cursed doll burn under the candles dark flame. "…I think I just found my new mission."

* * *

><p><strong>Lw: Mwahah! Take that suckers!<strong>

**Katie: WTF is up with that creepy doll? Is it a chakra eating voodoo thing?**

**Lw: Well wouldn't you like to know. **

**Katie: And why did it have the Suna insignia on it?**

**Lw: Well, we will just have to wait for you to solve this mission now wont we? ;D**

**Tune in for Next Time! **

_**Mission on Hold: Gaaras Lessons Start Now!**_


	7. Chapter 7: Gaaras Lessons Start Now!

**Lw: Tryin to crank these babies out now that I have inspiration again. Not that I didn't before, I just got smacked in the face by life is all. Got a new job, starting school again (sadly, my first paycheck went straight to books.. I cried a little)**

**Katie: Yeah... college is **_**pretty**_** expensive...**

**Lw: Yeah, Like you would know! You never went!**

**Katie: I never got the chance to!**

**Lw: . ANYWAYS! Another chapter for my lovely readers! **

**Remember! Review and Fav! Feedback is very much welcomed here :3 even if it has to be harsh…**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mission on Hold: Gaaras Lessons Start Now!<strong>_

Pema was making breakfast again when I somehow managed to get up and go downstairs for the food. I sat at the table and started to grab some breakfast still half asleep listening to Pema laugh.

"Katie, darling, you look like a zombie!" She chuckled again. "Did you not sleep well?" She asked finishing up the pancakes she was cooking and joined me at the table.

"No, I slept fine. It's just... early…" I groaned again when I looked at the clock. 5:46 am. I swear, training this early was Ludacris. I just need to petition mornings...

Pema laughed again. "Well hurry up and eat, you don't want to make your friend late." She said taking a few bites of her food.

"Yeah…" I half mumbled. For the past 5 days I had been training with Gaara at the butt crack of dawn. The training itself wasn't all that difficult, considering I spent most of my short life here training with ruthless kages. I just really, really, _really_ hated mornings….

Finishing my pancakes, I got up from the table with ten minutes to six. That gave me just enough time to get to the training grounds without being late. Pema saw me out the door and I made my way to the rooftops quickly, still rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

While I was jumping over the cities buildings, I thought back to six days ago, the day after I burned the cursed doll. Gaara magically appeared the morning after so I asked where he was the day before (when we were all at the beach), and he just said he had gotten preoccupied with the council. Whenever he talked about the council he seemed almost irritated a little, so I didn't press the issue. He then proceeded told me we were beginning training the next day. Starting at exactly 6am I was to meet him at the training grounds every morning. Stupid mornings...

Anyways, the training usually lasted till noon, and then I had the rest of the day to myself. I spent some of that time trying to investigate that creepy doll mystery. I still haven't told Gaara about it either… I'm still debating if I should or not….

I just want to find out a little more information about it before I go worrying anyone.

When I finally arrived to the training grounds Gaara was already there waiting patiently for me, arms crossed. I mentally panicked. Was I really late? I didn't think so… well…. he's just always early… I hope.

"Good morning." I said slightly more chipper than I was at Pemas, the roof jumping waking me up slightly. "So, what's on the agenda for us today? Clones? Aerial attacks? Dodging? Weapons?"

"Nothing." Gaara uncrossed his arms and walked a little closer to me. "You have the weekend off."

"Nothing?" I repeated confused.

He simply nodded.

"Nothing." I questioned one more time... was this a joke?

He gave me a look like, "Are you really going to ask me again?"

"Oh really?" That caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a day off…was it already the weekend? It must be the weekend. I'm losing track of the days…

"Did… you have something planned for today?" He asked curiously watching me closely.

In the large amount of time that I have known Gaara, I quickly found out (the hard way) he always makes great eye contact with people. So much, so that it creeped some people out or unnerved them. I'm sure thats where he got most of his intimidation from. Those unrelenting eyes... I, fortunately, am used to his ridiculous staring now. His 'piercing' gaze was no longer menacing to me.

A hand went to my chin in thought. "Hmm. Now that you think about it, I do. Pema did ask me to go into town today and deliver some stuff to a few costumers of hers."

He simply nodded. He was so… accepting sometimes. An idea popped into my head…

"Gaara, are you doing anything today?" I asked smirking slightly.

He narrowed his eyes at my smirk, becoming suddenly suspicious. "No."

"Well, how would you like to accompany me and help me run those errands today?" A smile started to break across my face.

His expression never really changed with the shrug he gave me. "Ok."

"Sweet! You'll be a big help." I lightly grabbed his wrist and pulled him slightly back to Pemas. "Pema will be so happy to meet you. I can't wait to show you the house!"

Gaara paid no mind to my rambling; his eyes were fixated on my hand holding his.

* * *

><p>Gaara and I had <em>finally<em> made it to the residential district of Suna after Pema spent nearly _three hours_ of 'welcoming' Gaara into our home. Sure, there was never a dull or boring moment during those three hours, Pema even had small desserts ready for us, but after sometime, it got to be to much. I eventually managed to explain Gaara was here helping me run her errands for today, and she was absolutely elated swiftly giving us the supplies and address's for our deliveries.

"Is… Pema always so welcoming?" Gaara asked quietly looking at the stack of packages he held in his arms.

I couldn't help but laugh at his question. "Oh yes, very much so. She has such a kind heart, it tends to get her carried away sometimes." I smiled over at Gaara who was now staring at me intently. "She'll treat you kindly no matter what. You should have seen her when I first moved in! She'd ask me non-stop how I was doing, how everything was going, how I liked Suna, if people were treating me right..."

I laughed again at the memories. "I've only known her a short time, but she feels like a second mother to me."

"A second mother." He mulled over his thoughts breaking eye contact for a brief second.

"Where are your parents now?" He asked curious. He remembered she said she was from a different world... Did they come with her?

My breath hitched in my throat, sadness momentarily taking over me with the thought of my family... "Uhm… That's a question for another time." I smiled back at him the best I could. "Lets finish these deliveries first!"

He merely nodded at my response and we kept up our journey to the delivery cites. We had made it to 4 of the 5 stops, all of which were happy to see us, and it was on our last stop that I got another idea.

"Hey Gaara, why don't you go up to the next house for this last stop." I looked at the piece of paper with address and smiled. I had done all the door knocking so far today; I think it was time Gaara did some of the talking.

I turned my head and smiled at him, coming up to our final destination. "Don't worry, this lady is nice."

We stopped in front of the house. Gaara was holding the package in his hands while simply staring at the residency. He kept staring at the house… for a good 3 minutes.

I grew worried… Hell, that was a long time for a ninja!

My mind quickly went on a rampage. Was he afraid of rejection? Was he scared? He had watched me do the drop offs all day! Surely he picked something up! Could he be nervous? I continued to stare at him wondering what was going on in his mind until he turned his attention back to me. His eyes never left mine.

Like I said before, I had known Gaara for a long time now; yet still some things about him surprised me. And if I hadn't known him so well, I would have missed the emotions running wild inside his eyes behind that mask of his. Maybe he just needed reassurance? I knew he wouldn't fail, but he seemed to doubt himself. I almost laughed at the thought. Gaara doubting himself?

Pfhhh. Never.

I quickly smiled and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Gaara, you'll be fine. I'll be right behind you."

He looked back up at the doorstep and nodded slightly. He started up the stairs, with me following shortly after. He lifted a hand and knocked on the door…

We both could hear a few shuffling sounds behind the door when I noticed Gaara grow stiff waiting for the door. I grew anxious just watching the kid! There was some more tap tapping when finally, the door opened to reveal a long, thin white cane being held by a blonde haired lady wearing typical Suna citizen attire.

"Hello? Who's there?" The woman looked like she was staring out at her steps, but her gaze wasn't focused on anything in particular. "Helloo~?" She called again in a singsong tone.

"Hello." Gaara had regained his composure and spoke with some authority to gain the women's attention. I was impressed.

Her eyes instantly shot to Gaara like she just saw him standing there for the first time. "Ah! A visitor? And what brings you here, stranger?" She smiled brightly. "Thought I was talking to no body for a second!" She chuckled and so did I.

"Oh? Did I hear someone else?" the lady again, looking at where I was standing now smiling in recognition at my laugh.

"You did." Gaara replied regaining the blind women's attention. "My name is Gaara, and that laugh you heard was Katie. We are here to drop of a package you requested from Ms. Pema."

The woman smiled and took a step outside her door resting her cane against the frame. "Ah-ha! I knew it was you Katie." Her hands reached out for my face and I stepped closer for her to touch.

"Still as beautiful as every, I see." She smiled again tracing her fingers gently over my facial features, painting a picture in her mind. "Still running errands around for Pema? Such a sweet girl." She kissed my forehead and I laughed.

"But I see you brought a friend with! And a boy no less!" her hands reached out for where Gaara stood standing on her porch. He eyed her hands unsure of what to do as they kept coming closer to his face. But they hesitated at the last second, as if sensing his uncertainty.

"May I?" She asked smiling blindly at the boy.

Ms. Himoto couldn't see his mixed emotions, but I sure could. He looked unsure as to weather or not he should let this woman touch his face. I don't think anyone's ever touched his face before? I almost chuckled again as I watched him give her a once over, making sure she was no threat and wouldn't harm him.

"Go ahead." He nodded and closed his eyes.

Ms. Himoto said a thank-you and her hands reached out again, gracing over his features. Her smooth hands slid over his flawless ivory skin and skimmed over his dark eyelids painting another picture in her head. Her fingers traced over his scar, another gently brushing over his lips, and finally she ran a hand through his hair to see its length.

Ms. Himoto stepped back and smiled rubbing her index finger and her thumb together. "You look quite handsome Gaara. I adore your tattoo, but you appear to be covered in sand. I recommend a bath every once in awhile…"

I couldn't hold in my laugh. I'd never heard anyone talk to him like that before; it was priceless! Gaara coughed, feeling slightly out of place. He was completely caught off guard by her comment. I mean, no one had _ever_ said that to him before!

"I assure you I am clean."

"I know! I know! I was just kidding." She put a hand on his head smiling again. "I could tell you were clean by the smell of your shampoo. I also knew you use sand as a weapon because you're a ninja. I ment no offense!" she chuckled again.

I finally stopped laughing and composed myself slightly. "Alright Ms. Himoto, no more teasing! He can only take so much!" I smiled again looking at Gaara, who was just staring at the blind woman with a confused and slightly shocked look.

"Of course of course! Just hand me my junk, and I'll let you to be on your way."

Gaara stepped forward and gently handed her package into her out stretched hands.

"Thank you, thank you!" She smiled at our retreating forms down her steps. "Now you two best be on your best behaviors! I may not be able to see anything, but I hear everything!"

"Oh, we will! Bye miss Himoto! See you later!" I smiled and waved even though she couldn't see.

Gaara was waiting for me a little up ahead, still staring at Ms. Himotos door again once she had retired inside. I caught up to him and eyed him funny. What was with all his staring?

"Gaara, is everything alright?"

He turned his attention to me and nodded slightly, both of us starting down the street once again. This time, to home.

"So what did I tell you? I knew I'd be easy for you. And I told you she'd be nice!" I laced my hands behind my back and looked at him again. He appeared deep in thought.

He was always so cute when he was deep in thought… I wonder what he was thinking about. Was he thinking... about Ms. Himoto?

"Hey, are you sure you're okay? I know it must have been a little strange with her touching your face… I'm sorry I made you feel uncomfortable." I instantly felt horrible. Maybe I should have warned him first that she was blind? I should have known he wouldn't have liked the contact. I'm so unthoughtful... so stupi-

"No." Gaara shook his head a little. "I'm fine. It was…" He reached a hand to touch his cheek, still feeling Ms. Himotos fingers dancing over his skin, "Nice."

I mentally sighed in relief. Thank god, he wasn't upset! I looked up to the setting sun and watched the stars pop out of the sky. A full day of errands really makes the day fly by. We were walking in a comfortable silence now as the night was creeping out. It were times like these where I liked just spending time with Gaara, even if it was silent. I enjoyed his company, he was always so consistent and that made me happy.

Could I ever be as comforting to Gaara as he was to me?

"Gaara, can I ask you a question?" I asked turning down the last street to get to Pemas house, almost home now.

He silently glanced over in my direction signaling I had his attention.

"What's your dream?" I kept my eyes towards the sky, still enjoying the night.

I didn't have to look at him to see his non-existent eyebrows furrow. In confusion or thought, I didn't know.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, what's your goal? I mean, your helping me achieve mine… I'd like to return the favor." I finally risked a side-glance at him wanting to see his expression.

We both quietly stopped outside Pemas house by her steps when he too, looked towards the now star filled sky.

"I feel like you already know the answer."

I didn't look away from the sky, nor did I respond to his answer. If i didn't know any better, i'd think he might have secrete mind reading powers…

But of course I already know the answer! You're looking at an undivided, die heart fan here. I think I know too much about you..

The question now, was he willing to share his dream with me…

I just continued to watch the moonlight as it bathed over us. I made no move to go inside yet; I waited patiently for his answer.

As they say, patience is a virtue.

But you know. I think… I'd wait all night if it was with-

"You know more than you let on." I could feel him bore holes into my back with his eyes. I tired to keep a blank face on…Keep looking at the sky. Your death stare was totally not making me nervous at all. NOT!

After another long pause and much staring later he broke the silence again.

"After my fight with Naruto…" He looked at his hands, "I wanted to start over. He opened my eyes and now there's something I understand a little better. Hate, sadness, and even happiness… to be able to share it with another person… from fighting with him, I learned that." His fists closed gently. "He knew pain like I did. And then he taught me that you can change that path."

I was captured by his speech, melting me a little inside. He turned his gaze toward me, and I finally turned away from the sky locking eyes with him. His eyes… there they were again, swirling with so many emotions I couldn't even comprehend, while his face remained blank as ever. He continued to look at me while they softened momentarily at his last words…

"I wish that someday I can be needed by someone. Not as a frightening weapon, but as the Kazekage of the Sand."

My breath hitched again at his familiar words. I smiled softly down at my feet, letting his words sink into me. His speech he'd spoken to Kankuro… it was breathtaking. A million times better in person…

I silently wrapped my arms around Gaara brining him into a small embrace.

"What a splendid goal." I whispered into his ear. I gave him a light squeeze for a second and quickly pulled back after I realized what I was doing. HUGGING Gaara?! HUGGING GAARA!? What on EARTH was I thinking!

IDOT! IDOT! IODT! My inner self was viciously screaming at me...

I turned around to hide my blush that was quickly flushing my cheeks. "As of now, I shall help you accomplish your goal!" I shot a hand up towards the sky, to hopefully hide my embarrassment!

If Gaara was in shock, he hid it quiet well…

"Why?" He asked genuinely curious.

Hoping my blush was gone, I turned back around and smiled at him once more. "Isn't it obvious? That's what friends are for! We help each other out." I made my way up Pemas steps and turned back around to still see Gaara staring up after me.

"Each day we can do something new! Tomorrow we can go around town and start there." I opened the house door still smiling down at Gaara.

"Your welcome to breakfast tomorrow morning! Pema would love the extra company. If your not interested, come by at 10! See yah then, Gaara!" I waved a goodnight, but when I shut the door, I slid down its frame still in shock. I couldn't help but smile at his facial expression.

He still held a straight face, but yet those eyes were full of pure, unadulterated confusion.

Maybe a little bit of excitement and wonder? Who knows.

Gaaras lessons start now.

This…. is going to be fun.

* * *

><p><strong>Lw: Man, maybe this was a bad idea. I don't know what you could possibly teach this poor guy about anything…..<strong>

**Katie: Hey! I'll have you know, I have quite enough knowledge here in my head to share.**

**Lw: Lovely… -_-''''**

**Anyways! This next chapter will be a collection of short day-to-day adventures Katie takes Gaara on. Wonder what exciting mishaps she'll take him through!? Mwahaha! **

**Katie: There will be NO mishaps! Everything will go _flawlessly_! Thank you very much. **

**LW: Message me if you guys have any other ideas of what Katie can do to help improve Gaaras social skills? I have a few ideas, but make sure it's clever! ;D**


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